DOCUMENTARY   SOURCE    BOOK 
OF  AMERICAN    HISTORY 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

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DOCUMENTARY   SOURCE    BOOK 

OF 

AMERICAN    HISTORY 
1 606- 1913 


EDITED  WITH  NOTES 

BY 

4t 

WILLIAM    MACDONALD 

PROFESSOR  OF   HISTORY   IN   BROWN    UNIVERSITY 


NEW  AND   ENLARGED   EDITION,   WITH  CONTINUATION 

TO   1913 


THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY 
1923 

All  rights  reserved 


v> 


COPYRIGHT,  1908  AND  1916, 
BY  THE  MACMILLAN   COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.  Published  August,  1908.  Reprinted 
February,  September,  1909;  January,  1911;  August,  1913; 
December,  1914. 

New  and  enlarged  edition,  with  continuation  to  1913,  October, 
1916;  September,  1917. 


4-0  £  56  Q. 


J.  S.  Gushing  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


PREFACE 

THE  present  volume  has  been  prepared  in  response  to  a 
request,  frequently  made  by  teachers  who  have  used  my  "  Select 
Charters,"  "  Select  Documents,"  and  "  Select  Statutes,"  for  a 
briefer  collection  of  documents  particularly  designed  for  courses 
of  instruction  of  an  elementary  or  comprehensive  character, 
or  which  cover  both  the  colonial  and  the  constitutional  peri 
ods  of  American  history  in  a  single  year.  In  making  the 
selection,  accordingly,  I  have  aimed  to  include  such  documents 
only  as  experience  has  shown  to  be  most  necessary  or  useful 
in  comprehensive  courses,  bearing  in  mind  the  time  available 
for  the  average  student.  The  texts  are  the  same  as  those  in 
the  three  volumes  named  above,  except  the  treaties,  which  here 
follow  the  better  text  in  the  United  States  Statutes  at  Large. 
Many  of  the  documents,  however,  have  been  further  condensed 
by  the  omission  of  formal,  technical,  or  relatively  unimportant 
provisions  ;  a  few  errors  in  the  earlier  volumes  have  been  cor 
rected  ;  and  some  changes  have  been  made  in  the  notes.  I  shall 
be  glad  if  the  volume  serves  to  facilitate  the  study,  especially 
in  elementary  courses,  of  the  documentary  sources  of  American 
history. 

WILLIAM  MACDONALD. 

PROVIDENCE,  RHODE  ISLAND, 
July,  1908. 


866459 


Contents 


1.  First  Charter  of  Virginia.     April  10/20,  1606 I 

2.  Second  Charter  of  Virginia.     May  23 /June  2,  1609         ...  9 
Third  Charter  of  Virginia.     March  12/22,  1611/12                  f        .14 
Mayflower  Compact.     Nov.  11/21,  1620.         ...        ,         ,         .  19 
Ordinance  for  Virginia.     July  24/Aug.  3,  1621         .         .         ^        •  2O 

>First  Charter  of  Massachusetts.     March  4/14,  1628/9     .         .         .22 

Charter  of  Privileges  to  Patroons.     June  7/17,  1629        .         ,    .     ,  26 

8.  Charter  of  Maryland.     June  20/30,  1632          .         .         .       Y        .  31 

9.  Fundamental  Orders  of  Connecticut.     Jan.  14/24,  1638/9      .         .  36 

10.  Fundamental  Articles  of  New  Haven.     June  4/14,  1639           ,         .  39 

11.  Patent  of  Providence  Plantations.     March  14/24,  1643   ...  43 

12.  New  England  Confederation.     May  19/29,  1643              •         •         •  45 

13.  Government  of  New  Haven.     Oct.  27/Nov.  6,  1643         ...  50 

14.  Maryland  Toleration  Act.     April,  1649    .         .         ,        „         .      .  .  53 

15.  First  Navigation  Act.     1660     .         .         .         .         .         .         ,         .  55 

16.  Charter  of  Connecticut.     April  23/May  3,  1662       .         ,         .         .60 

17.  First  Charter  of  Carolina.     March  24/April  3,  1662/3    ...  63 

1 8.  Charter  of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations.     July  8/18, 

1663     .        ......        ,        .         .        .         .66 

19.  Second  Navigation  Act.     1663         '«         ,         .        f        .         ,         .  72 

20.  Grant  to  the  Duke  of  York.     March  12/22,  1663/4        .         ,         •  74 

21.  Second  Charter  of  Carolina.     June  3O/ July  I o,  1665        .        *        .  76 

22.  Third  Navigation  Act.     1672   .         .         «,         .                  .         .         .  78 

23.  Charter  of  Pennsylvania.     March  4/14,  1 680/81      ....  80 
^24.   Second  Charter  of  Massachusetts.     Oct.  7/17,  1691         .        ..         .  84 

25.  Navigation  Act.     April  10/20,  1696         .         .         .         ...         .  90 

26.  Treaty  of  Utrecht.     March  31  /April  n,  1713          ,         •        «         -93 

27.  Charter  of  Georgia.     June  9/20,  1732     .         .         .        ...         •  95 

28.  Molasses  Act.     May  17/28,  1733     .         ..       .         ,         .         ,        .  103 

29.  Writ  of  Assistance.     Dec.  2,  1762    .         ,  •  .'.        ,       '.        ,         .  105 

30.  Treaty  of  Paris.     Feb.  10,  1763        .      ,f        ,         . ,.  -  .'.         .         .  109 

31.  Royal  Proclamation  concerning  America.     Oct.  7,  1763  .         .         .  113 

32.  Sugar  Act.     April  5,  1764         .         .'         .         .         .         .         .         .  117 


viii  CONTENTS 

NUMBER  PAGE 

33.  Stamp  Act.     March  22,  1765    .         .         ." 122 

34.  Quartering  Act.     April,  1765 131 

35.  Resolutions  of  the  Stamp  Act  Congress.     Oct.  19,  1765    .         .         .  136 

36.  Declaratory  Act.     March  18,  1766  .         .  -'  ' 139 

37.  Act  suspending  the  New  York  Assembly.     June  15,  1767         .         .  141 

38.  Townshend  Revenue  Act.     June  29,  1767 143 

39.  Massachusetts  Circular  Letter.     Feb.  n,  1768          .         .         .         .146 

-40.  Boston  Port  Act.     March  31,  1774 150 

41.  Massachusetts  Government  Act.     May  20,  1774       .         .        ...  155 

.42.  Administration  of  Justice  Act.     May  20,  1774          .    '     •  '.''',         .  159 

43.  Declaration  and  Resolves  of  the  First  Continental  Congress.    Oct.  14, 

1774     •         •         •         •         .         .         .  "      .         .'       .      ".         .  162 

,^44.  The  Association.     Oct.  20,  1774 166 

x45.  Lord  North's  Conciliatory  Resolution.     Feb.  27,  1775      .         .         .171 

>0.  New  England  Restraining  Act.     March  30,  1775      .         .         .         .172 

_^ft.  Declaration  of  the  Causes  and  Necessity  cf  Taking  up  Arms.     July  6, 

1775 176 

/4^.  Report  on  Lord  North's  Conciliatory  Resolution.     July  31,  1775      .  184 

-49".  Proclamation  of  Rebellion.     Aug.  23,  1775       .....  188 

50.  Declaration  of  Independence.     July  4,  1776     .         .         .    .     ..        .  190 

51.  Articles  of  Confederation.     Nov.  15,  1777        .         .         .         .         .  195 

52.  Treaty  of  Paris.     Sept.  3,  1783 204 

53.  Ordinance  of  1787.     July  13,  1787 209 

54.  Constitution  of  the  United  States.     Sept.  17,  1787  .         .         .         .  216 

55.  Hamilton's  First  Report  on  Public  Credit.     Jan.  9,  1790          .         .  233 

56.  Proclamation  of  Neutrality.     April  22,  1793     .         .         .         .         .  243 

57.  Treaty  with  Great  Britain.     Nov.  19,  1794       .         .         .         .         .  244 
Alien  and  Sedition  Acts.     1798        .         .         .         ...         .         .  258 

58.  Naturalization  Act.     June  1 8,  1798  .         .         .         ....         .  259 

59.  Alien  Act.     June  25,  1798        .         .         .         .        .         .         .         .261 

60.  Alien  Enemies  Act.     July  6,  1798    .         .         ..'...         .  263 

61.  Sedition  Act.     July  14,  1798    .         .         .         ...         .         .265 

Kentucky  and  Virginia  Resolutions.     1798,1799     .         .         .         .  267 

62.  Kentucky  Resolutions.     Nov.  1 6,  1798     .         .         .         .        ,        '.  268 

63.  Virginia  Resolutions.     Dec.  24,  1798        .         .         .    ~    .      [  .         .  274 

64.  Kentucky  Resolutions.     Nov.  22,  1799     .         ...         .         .  276 

65.  Treaty  with  France  for  the  Cession  of  Louisiana.     April  30,  1803    .  279 

66.  Embargo  Act.     Dec.  22,  1807 .    '     .         .         .         .                           .  282 

67.  Non-Intercourse  Act.     March  I,  1809      .         .         .    '     .         .         .  284 

68.  Declaration  of  War.     June  18,  1812         .         .         .         .         .         .  288 

69.  Treaty  of  Ghent.     Dec.  24,  1814.     .         .         .         .         .         .         .  289 

70.  Report  of  the  Hartford  Convention.     Jan.  4,  1815  ....  293 


CONTENTS  ix 

NUMBER  PAGE 

71.  Act  for  a  National  Bank.     April  10,  1816 302 

72.  Treaty  with  Spain  for  the  Floridas.     Feb.  22,  1819         .         .         .  306 
Missouri  Compromise.     1820—21     .         .         .         .         .         .         .  311 

73.  Tallmadge's  Amendment.     Feb.  13,  1819       ...         ...         .  313 

74.  Taylor's  Amendment.     Jan.  26,  1820 313 

75.  Thomas's  Amendment.     Feb.  17,  1820 314 

76.  Report  of  the  Conference  Committee.     March  i,  1820  .         ,         .  314 

77.  Missouri  Enabling  Act.     March  6,  1820           »        .      •   .         .         .  315 

78.  Constitution  of  Missouri.     July  19,  1820          .         ».-•:.,         .  316 

79.  Resolution  for  the  Admission  of  Missouri.     March  2,  1821     .         .  317 

80.  Monroe's  Message  enunciating  the  Monroe  Doctrine.     Dec.  2,  1823  318 

81.  The  Bank  Controversy:  Jackson's  First  Annual  Message.     Dec.  8, 

1829  .        .       ........        .        .        .:.'*..        .        .  320 

82.  The    Bank    Controversy :    Jackson's    Second    Annual    Message. 

Dec.  7,  1830        .         .         .         .         ..*:'.*'.         .  322 

83.  The  Bank  Controversy :  Jackson's  Third  Annual  Message.     Dec.  6, 

1831 .........  323 

84.  Jackson's  Bank  Veto.     July  10,  1832      .         ...         .         .  324 

85.  South  Carolina  Ordinance  of  Nullification.     Nov.  24,  1832     .         .  329 

86.  Jackson's  Proclamation  to  the  People  of  South  Carolina.     Dec.  10, 

1832 333 

87.  Act  for  Enforcing  the  Tariff.     March  2,  1833          ....  341 
Removal  of  the  Deposits.     September,  1833 344 

88.  Jackson's  Paper  read  to  the  Cabinet.     Sept.  18,  1833     .         .         .  344 

89.  Taney's  Instructions  to  the  Collector  at  Philadelphia.  Sept.  26,  1833  349 

90.  Taney  to  the  Girard  Bank.     Sept.  26,  1833     ....         .         .  350 

91.  Taney  to  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.     Sept.  26,  1833        •         •  351 

92.  Contract  between  the  Girard  Bank  and  the  United  States.     Sept.  28, 

1833 352 

93.  Constitution  of  the  American  Anti-Slavery  Society.     Dec.  4,  1833  353 

94.  Act  to  Regulate  the  Deposits.     June  23,  1836        .    .     .         .         .  355 

95.  Specie  Circular.     July  n,  1836       .         .         •         »        »         .         .  359 

96.  Treaty  with  Great  Britain.     Aug.  9,  1842        .....  361 

97.  Joint  Resolution  for  the  Annexation  of  Texas.     March  I,  1845       •  368 

98.  Act  for  the  Prosecution  of  the  Mexican  War.     May  13,  1846          .  371 

99.  Treaty  with  Great  Britain.     June  15,  1846      .         .         .         .         .  372 

100.  Independent  Treasury  Act.     Aug.  6,  1846      .         ..        .     •   ,         .  374 

101.  Treaty  with  Mexico.     Feb.  2,  1848          „        .         .        ,  -      «         .  377 
Compromise  of  1850       ..         .         .         »»         .     _  •_      .  383 

102.  Clay's  Resolutions.     Jan.  29,  1850           .         .         »      .  .         .         .  384 

103.  Extract  from  the  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Thirteen.    May  8,  1 850  386 

104.  Extract  from  the  Utah  Act.     Sept.  9,  1850 387 


X  CONTENTS 

NUMBER  PAGE 

105.  Extract  from  the  Texas  and  New  Mexico  Act.     Sept.  9,  1850         .  388 

106.  Fugitive  Slave  Act.     Sept.  18,  1850 390 

107.  Act   abolishing   the    Slave   Trade   in    the   District   of   Columbia. 

Sept.  20,  1850 394 

108.  Treaty  with  Mexico.     Dec.  30,  1853 394 

Kansas-Nebraska  Act.     1854 397 

109.  Douglas's  Report.     Jan.  4,  1854 399 

110.  Dixon's  Proposed  Amendment.     Jan.  1 6,  1854       ....  402 
in.    Sumner's  Proposed  Amendment.     Jan.  17,  1854     ....  403 

112.  Extract   from  the  Act  to   Organize  the  Territories  of  Nebraska 

and  Kansas.     May  30,  1854 403 

113.  Dred  Scott  Decision.     March  6,  1857 405 

114.  Lecompton  Constitution.     Nov.  7,  1857 420 

115.  South  Carolina  Ordinance  of  Secession.     Dec.  20,  1860          .         .  423 

116.  Constitution  of  the   Confederate   States  of  America.     March   n, 

1861 424 

117.  Call  for  75,000  Volunteers.     April  15,  1861 433 

1 1 8.  Proclamation  declaring  a  Blockade  of  Southern  Ports.    April  19, 

1861 434 

119.  Act  for  a  National  Loan.     July  17,  1 86 1 436 

120.  Act  authorizing  the  Employment  of  Volunteers.     July  22,  1861      .  438 

121.  Resolution  on  the  Nature  and  Object  of  the  War.     July  22,  1861  439 

122.  Act  for  calling  out  the  Militia.     July  29,  1861         .         .         .         .  440 

123.  Act  to  define  and  punish  certain  Conspiracies.     July  31,  1861         .  441 

124.  Confiscation  Act.     Aug.  6,  1861 442 

125.  Act   authorizing  the   Seizure  of  Railroad  and  Telegraph   Lines. 

Jan.  31,  1862 444 

126.  Act  authorizing  the  Issue  of  Legal  Tender  Notes.     Feb.  25,  1862  446 

127.  Act  for  an  Additional  Article  of  War.     March  13,  1862          .         .  448 

128.  Joint  Resolution  on  Compensated  Emancipation.     April  10,  1862.  449 

129.  Act  abolishing  Slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia.     April  16,  1862  450 

130.  Abolition  of  Slavery  in  the  Territories.     June  19,  1862  .         .         .  452 

131.  Oath  of  Office.     July  2,  1862 452 

132.  Confiscation  Act.     July  17,  1862 454 

133.  Emancipation  Proclamation.     Jan.  I,  1863 457 

134.  Enrolment  Act.     March  3,  1863 459 

135.  Act  relating  to  Habeas  Corpus.     March  3,  1863     ....  463 

136.  Resolution  against  Foreign  Mediation.     March  3,  1863           .         .  467 

137.  Proclamation  of  Amnesty.     Dec.  8,  1863 470 

138.  National  Bank  Act.     June  3,  1864 473 

139.  Proclamation  regarding  Reconstruction.     July  8,  1864  .         .         .  482 

140.  Electoral  Count.     Feb.  8,  1865       .         .         .         .         .         .         .  487 


CONTENTS  xi 

NUMBER  PAGE 

141.  Freedmen's  Bureau.     March  3,  1865       .         .     '   •        .        •         .  488 

142.  Freedom  for  Soldiers'  Families.     March  3,  1865     ....  490 

143.  Proclamation  appointing  a  Governor  for  North  Carolina.     May  29, 

1865   .         .         .         .  - -    .        .        •"    ••         .         .         .         .  491 

144.  Thirteenth  Amendment.     Dec.  18,  1865          .         .         ,        ,        .  494 

145.  First  Civil  Rights  Act.     April  9,  1866   \  •      .         .         .         .         .  494 

146.  Restoration  of  Tennessee.     July  24,  1866        .       t.         .         .         .  498 

147.  Franchise  in  the  District  of  Columbia.     Jan.  8,  1867      .         .         .  499 

148.  Elective  Franchise  in  the  Territories.     Jan.  31,  1867     .         .         .  500 

149.  First  Reconstruction  Act.     March  2,  1867               .        ,         .         .  500 

150.  Tenure  of  Office  Act.     March  2,  1867    .        '."  '  .        "..'-.         .  504 

151.  Command  of  the  Army.     March  2,  1867         .         .         .         .         .  507 

152.  Second  Reconstruction  Act.     March  23,  1867        .         .         .         .  508 

153.  Treaty  with  Russia  for  the  Cession  of  Alaska.     March  30,  1867      .  511 

154.  Third  Reconstruction  Act.     July  19,  1867       .         .         .         .         .  514 

155.  Articles  of  Impeachment.     March  2/3,  1868          ...         .         .  518 

156.  Fourth  Reconstruction  Act.     March  II,  1868          ...         .  529 

157.  Act  admitting  Arkansas  to  Representation  in  Congress.     June  22, 

1868 539 

158.  Act  admitting  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Louisiana,  Georgia, 

Alabama,  and  Florida  to  Representation  in  Congress.     June  25, 

1868   .         ... 532 

159.  Oath  of  Office.     July  u,  1868 .  534 

1 60.  Joint  Resolution  excluding  Electoral  Votes  of  the  Late  Rebellious 

States.     July  20,  1868          .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  535 

161.  Fourteenth  Amendment  to  the  Constitution.     July  28,  1868  .         .  536 

162.  Provisional    Governments    of    Virginia,    Texas,    and    Mississippi. 

Feb.  18,  1869 .538 

163.  Act  to  strengthen  the  Public  Credit.     March  18,  1869   .         .         .  539 

164.  Submission  of  the  Constitutions  of  Virginia,  Mississippi,  and  Texas. 

April  10,  1869 540 

165.  Reconstruction  of  Georgia.     Dec.  22,  1869 542 

1 66.  Admission  of  Virginia  to  Representation   in  Congress.     Jan.  26, 

1870 544 

167.  Fifteenth  Amendment  to  the  Constitution.     March  30,  1870  .         .  546 

1 68.  Act  to  enforce  the  Fifteenth  Amendment.     May  31,  1870      .         .  547 

169.  Act  for  refunding  the  National  Debt.     July  14,  1870      .         .         .551 

170.  Act  for  the  Restoration  of  Georgia.     July  15,  1870         .         .         .  553 

171.  Supplementary  Act  to  enforce  the  Fifteenth  Amendment.     Feb.  28, 

1871 554 

172.  Act  to  enforce  the  Fourteenth  Amendment.     April  20,  1871  .         .  560 

173.  Act  removing  Political  Disabilities.     May  22,  1872          .         .         .  564 


xH  CONTENTS 

NUMBER  PAGE 

174.  Coinage  Act.     Feb.  12,  1873 565 

175.  Resumption  of  Specie  Payments.     Jan.  14,  1875    .  566 

176.  Second  Civil  Rights  Act.     March  I,  1875 568 

177.  Electoral  Count  Act.     Jan.  29,  1877 570 

178.  Coinage  of  the  Standard  Silver  Dollar.     Feb.  28,  1878  .         .         .  573 

179.  Civil  Service  Act.     Jan.  16,  1883 575 

180.  Interstate  Commerce  Act.     Feb.  4,  1887 581 

181.  Anti-Trust  Act.     July  2,  1890 591 

182.  Silver  Purchase  Act.     July  14,  1890 593 

183.  Repeal  of  the  Silver  Purchase  Act  of  1890.     Nov.  I,  1893      •         •  595 

184.  Recognition  of  the  Independence  of  Cuba.     April  20,  1898  .         .  597 

185.  Declaration  of  War.     April  25,  1898 598 

186.  Annexation  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands.     July  7,  1898        .         .         .  600 

187.  Treaty  of  Paris.     Dec.  10,  1898 602 

188.  Gold  Standard  Act.     March  14,  1900 609 

189.  Treaty  with  Great  Britain  regarding  an  Isthmian  Canal.     Novem 

ber  18,  1901 614 

190.  Chinese  Exclusion  Act.     April  29,  1902 616 

191.  Act  for  the  Construction  of  an  Isthmian  Canal.     June  28,  1902      .  618 

192.  Panama  Canal  Treaty.     November  1 8,  1903 623 

193.  Naturalization  Act.     June  29,  1906 630 

194.  Prohibition  of  Campaign  Contributions  by  Corporations.     January 

26,  1907 635 

195.  Immigration  Act.     February  20,  1907     ......  636 

196.  Act  relating  to  Expatriation.     March  2,  1907           ....  644 

197.  Sixteenth  Amendment.     February  25,  1913 647 

198.  Seventeenth  Amendment.     May  31,  1913 647 

INDEX                                                        649 


DOCUMENTARY   SOURCE    BOOK 
OF  AMERICAN    HISTORY 


No.  i.     First  Charter  of  Virginia 

April  10/20,  1606 

THE  region  included  in  the  Virginia  grant  was  claimed  by  Spain,  but  the 
close  of  the  war  between  Spain  and  England,  in  1604,  left  the  latter  free  to 
extend  the  area  of  its  occupation  in  America.  Various  plans  for  settlement 
and  trade  were  brought  forward  soon  after  the  return  of  Weymouth,  in  July, 
1605.  A  petition  for  a  charter,  signed  by  Sir  Thomas  Gates,  Sir  George 
Somers,  Hakluyt,  and  others,  was  favorably  considered  by  James  I.,  and  in 
April,  1606,  the  charter  passed  the  seals.  The  first  draft  of  the  charter, 
accompanying  the  petition,  was  probably  drawn  by  Sir  John  Popham,  lord 
chief  justice,  but  the  final  form  was  the  work  of  Sir  Edward  Coke,  attorney- 
general,  and  Sir  John  Dodderidge,  solicitor-general.  Royal  orders  and 
instructions  for  the  government  of  the  two  colonies  and  the  conduct  of  their 
affairs  were  issued  Nov.  20/30  and  Dec.  10/20,  1606.  An  ordinance  and 
constitution  of  March  9/19,  1607,  increased  the  membership  of  the  council 
and  enlarged  its  authority. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Stith's  History  of  Virginia  (Sabin's  ed.,  1865), 
Appendix  I.  Invaluable  documentary  material  for  the  early  history  of  Vir 
ginia,  to  1616,  is  set  forth  in  Brown's  Genesis  of  the  United  States ;  see  also  the 
same  author's  First  Republic  in  America,  1-71.  Important  contemporary 
accounts  are:  John  Smith's  A  True  Relation  (Deane's  ed.,  1866,  with  notes), 
and  General  Historic  (Arber's  reprint) ;  Wingfield's  A  Discourse  of  Virginia 
(Deane's  ed.,  with  notes,  in  Archceologia  Americana,  IV.,  67-163);  and  A 
True  Declaration  of  the  Estate  of  the  Colonie  in  Virginia  (in  Force's  Tracts, 
III.).  See  further:  Neill's  Virginia  Company;  Sainsbury's  Calendar  of 
State  Papers,  Colonial,  I. 

I.  JAMES,  by  the  Grace  of  God,  King  of  England,  Scotland, 
France,  and  Ireland,  Defender  of  the  Faith,  £c.  WHEREAS  our 
loving  and  well-disposed  Subjects,  Sir  Thomas  Gates,  and  Sir 
George  Somers,  Knights,  Richard  Hackluit,  Clerk,  Prebendary  of 
Westminster,  and  Edward-Maria  Wingfield,  Thomas  Hanham, 
and  Ralegh  Gilbert,  Esqrs.  William  Parker,  and  George  Popham, 
Gentlemen,  and  divers  others  of  our  loving  Subjects,  have  been 
humble  Suitors  unto  us,  that  We  would  vouchsafe  unto  them  our 
Licence,  to  make  Habitation,  Plantation,  and  to  deduce  a  Colony 
of  sundry  of  our  People  into  that  Part  of  America,  commonly 

B  I 


2  FIRST   CHARTER  OF   VIRGINIA  [April  10/20 

called  VIRGINIA,  and  other  Par's  and  Territories  in  America,  either 
appertaining  unto  us,  or  which  are  not  now  actually  possessed  by 
any  Christian  Prince  cr  People,  situate,  lying,  and  being  all  along 
the  Sea  Coasts,  between  four  and  thirty  Degrees  of  Northerly 
Latitude  from  the  Equinoctial  Line,  and  five  and  forty  Degrees 
of  the  same  Latitude,  and  in  the  main  Land  between  the  same 
four  and  thirty  and  five  and  forty  Degrees,  and  the  Islands  there 
unto  adjacent,  or  within  one  hundred  Miles  of  the  Coast  thereof; 

II.  AND  to  that  End,  and  for  the  more  speedy  Accomplish 
ment  of   their  said  intended   Plantation  and   Habitation   there, 
are  desirous  to  divide  themselves  into  two  several  Colonies  and 
Companies;    The  one  consisting  of  certain  Knights,  Gentlemen, 
Merchants,  and  other  Adventurers,  of  our  City  of  London  and 
elsewhere,  which  are,  and  from  time  to  time  shall  be,  joined  unto 
them,  which  do  desire  to  begin  their  Plantation  and  Habitation 
in  some  fit  and  convenient  Place,  between  four  and  thirty  and 
one  and  forty  Degrees  of  the  said  Latitude,  alongst  the  Coasts 
of   Virginia  and  Coasts  of  America  aforesaid;    And  the  other 
consisting  of  sundry  Knights,  Gentlemen,  Merchants,  and  other 
Adventurers,  of  our  Cities  of  Bristol  and  Exeter,  and  of  our  Town 
of  Plimouth,  and  of  other  Places,  which  do  join  themselves  unto 
that  Colony,  which  do  desire  to  begin  their  Plantation  and  Habi 
tation  in  some  fit  and  convenient  Place,  between  eight  and  thirty 
Degrees  and  five  and  forty  Degrees  of  the  said  Latitude,  all  alongst 
the  said  Coast  of  Virginia  and  America,  as  that  Coast  lyeth: 

III.  WE,  greatly  commending,  and  graciously  accepting  of, 
their  Desires  for  the  Furtherance  of  so  noble  a  Work,  which  may, 
by  the  Providence  of  Almighty  God,  hereafter  tend  to  the  Glory 
of  his  Divine  Majesty,  in  propagating  of  Christian  Religion  to 
such  People,  as  yet  live  in  Darkness  and  miserable  Ignorance  of 
the  true  Knowledge  and  Worship  of  God,  and  may  in  time  bring 
the  Infidels  and  Savages,  living  in  those  Parts,  to  human  Civility, 
and  to  a  settled  and  quiet  Government;  DO,  by  these  our  Letters 
Patents,  graciously  accept  of,  and  agree  to,  their  humble  and  well- 
intended  Desires; 

IV.  AND   do   therefore,   for  Us,   our  Heirs,   and   Successors, 
GRANT  and  agree,  that  the  said  Sir  Thomas  Gates,  Sir  George 
Somers,  Richard  Hackluit,  and    Edward-Maria  Wingfield,  Ad 
venturers  of  and  for  our  City  of  London,  and  all  such  others,  as 


1606]  FIRST   CHARTER   OF   VIRGINIA  3 

are,  or  shall  be,  joined  unto  them  of  that  Colony,  shall  be  called 
the  first  Colony;  And  they  shall  and  may  begin  their  said  first 
Plantation  and  Habitation,  at  any  Place  upon  the  said  Coast  of 
Virginia  or  America,  where  they  shall  think  fit  and  convenient, 
between  the  said  four  and  thirty  and  one  and  forty  Degrees  of  the 
said  Latitude;  And  that  they  shall  have  all  the  Lands,  Woods, 
Soil,  Grounds,  Havens,  Ports,  Rivers,  Mines,  Minerals,  Marshes, 
Waters,  Fishings,  Commodities,  and  Hereditaments,  whatsoever, 
from  the  said  first  Seat  of  their  Plantation  and  Habitation  by  the 
Space  of  fifty  Miles  of  English  Statute  Measure,  all  along  the  said 
Coast  of  Virginia  and  America,  towards  the  West  and  Southwest, 
as  the  Coast  lyeth,  with  all  the  Islands  within  one  hundred  Miles 
directly  over  against  the  same  Sea  Coast ;  And  also  all  the  Lands 
.  .  .  [etc.]  .  .  .  from  the  said  Place  of  their  first  Plantation  and 
Habitation  for  the  space  of  fifty  like  English  Miles,  all  alongst  the 
said  Coast  of  Virginia  and  America,  towards  the  East  and  North 
east,  or  towards  the  North,  as  the  Coast  lyeth,  together  with  all 
the  Islands  within  one  hundred  Miles,  directly  over  against  the 
said  Sea  Coast;  And  also  all  the  Lands  .  .  .  [etc.]  .  .  .  from* 
the  same  fifty  Miles  every  way  on  the  Sea  Coast,  directly  into  the 
main  Land  by  the  Space  of  one  hundred  like  English  Miles ;  And 
shall  and  may  inhabit  and  remain  there ;  and  shall  and  may  also 
build  and  fortify  within  any  the  same,  for  their  better  Safeguard 
and  Defence,  according  to  their  best  Discretion,  and  the  Discre 
tion  of  the  Council  of  that  Colony;  And  that  no  other  of  our 
Subjects  shall  be  permitted,  or  suffered,  to  plant  or  inhabit  be 
hind,  or  on  the  Backside  of  them,  towards  the  main  Land,  without 
the  Express  Licence  or  Consent  of  the  Council  of  that  Colony, 
thereunto  in  Writing  first  had  and  obtained. 

V.  AND  we  do  likewise  .  .  .  GRANT  and  agree,  that  the  said 
Thomas  Hanham,  and  Ralegh  Gilbert,  William  Parker,  and 
George  Popham,  and  all  others  of  the  Town  of  Plimouth  in  the 
County  of  Devon,  or  elsewhere,  which  are,  or  shall  be,  joined  unto 
them  of  that  Colony,  shall  be  called  the  second  Colony;  And  that 
they  shall  and  may  begin  their  said  Plantation  and  Seat  of  their 
first  Abode  and  Habitation,  at  any  Place  upon  the  said  Coast  of 
Virginia  and  America,  where  they  shall  think  fit  and  convenient, 
between  eight  and  thirty  Degrees  of  the  said  Latitude,  and  five 
and  forty  Degrees  of  the  same  Latitude;  And  that  they  shall 


4  FIRST  CHARTER   OF  VIRGINIA  [April  10/20 

have  all  the  Lands  .  .  .  [etc.]  .  .  .  from  the  first  Seat  of  their 
Plantation  and  Habitation  by  the  Space  of  fifty  like  English 
Miles,  as  is  aforesaid,  all  alongst  the  said  Coast  of  Virginia  and 
America,  towards  the  West  and  Southwest,  or  towards  the  South, 
as  the  Coast  lyeth,  and  all  the  Islands  within  one  hundred  Miles, 
directly  over  against  the  said  Sea  Coast;  And  also  all  the  Lands 
.  .  .  [etc.]  .  .  .  from  the  said  Place  of  their  first  Plantation  and 
Habitation  for  the  Space  of  fifty  like  Miles,  all  alongst  the  said 
Coast  of  Virginia  and  America,  towards  the  East  and  North 
east,  or  towards  the  North,  as  the  Coast  lyeth,  and  all  the  Islands 
also  within  one  hundred  Miles  directly  over  against  the  same 
Sea  Coast;  And  also  all  the  Lands  .  .  .  [etc.]  .  .  .  from  the 
same  fifty  Miles  every  way  on  the  Sea  Coast,  directly  into  the 
main  Land,  by  the  Space  of  one  hundred  like  English  Miles.  .  .  . 

VI.  PROVIDED  always,  and  our  Will  and    Pleasure  herein  is, 
that  the  Plantation  and  Habitation  of  such  of  the  said  Colonies, 
as  shall  last  plant  themselves,  as  aforesaid,  shall  not  be  made 
within  one  hundred  like  English  Miles  of  the  other  of    them, 

•that  first  began  to  make   their  Plantation,  as  aforesaid. 

VII.  AND  we  do  also  ordain  .  .  .  that  each  of  the  said  Colonies 
shall  have  a  Council,  which  shall  govern  and  order  all  Matters  and 
Causes,  which  shall  arise,  grow,  or  happen,  to  or  within  the  same 
several  Colonies,  according  to  such  Laws,  Ordinances,  and  Instruc 
tions,  as  shall  be,  in  that  behalf,  given  and  signed  with  Our  Hand 
or  Sign  Manual,  and  pass  under  the  Privy  Seal  of  our  Realm  of 
England;   Each  of  which  Councils  shall  consist  of  thirteen  Per 
sons,  to  be  ordained,  made,  and  removed,  from  time  to  time, 
according  as  shall  be  directed  and  comprised  in  the  same  instruc 
tions;    And  shall  have  a  several  Seal,  for  all  Matters  that  shall 
pass  or  concern   the  same  several   Councils.  .  .  . 

VIII.  AND  that  also  there  shall  be  a  Council  established  here 
in   England,   which   shall,   in   like   Manner,   consist  of   thirteen 
Persons,  to  be,  for  that  Purpose,  appointed  by  Us  .  .  .,  which 
shall  be  called  our  Council  of  Virginia;    And  shall,  from  time 
to  time,  have  the  superior  Managing  and  Direction,  only  of  and 
for  all  Matters,  that  shall  or  may  concern  the  Government,  as 
well  of  the  said  several  Colonies,  as  of  and  for  any  other  Part 
or  Place,  within  the  aforesaid  Precincts  of  four  and  thirty  and 
five  and   forty   Degrees,  above  mentioned.  .  .  . 


1606]  FIRST   CHARTER   OF  VIRGINIA  5 

IX.  AND  moreover,  we  do  GRANT  .  .  .  that  the  said  several 
Councils,  of  and  for  the  said  several  Colonies,  shall  and  lawfully 
may,  by  Virtue  hereof,  from  time  to  time,  without  any  Interruption 
of  Us  .  .  .,  give  and  take  Order,  to  dig,  mine,  and  search  for  all 
Manner  of  Mines  of  Gold,  Silver,  and  Copper,  as  well  within 
any  part  of  their  said  several  Colonies,  as  for  the  said  main  Lands 
on  the  Backside  of  the  same  Colonies;   And  to  HAVE  and  enjoy 
the  Gold,   Silver,  and  Copper,  to  be  gotten  thereof,  to  the  Use 
and  Behoof  of  the  same  Colonies,  and  the  Plantations  thereof; 
YIELDING  therefore,  to  Us  ...  the  fifth  Part  only  of  all  the  same 
Gold  and  Silver,  and  the  fifteenth  Part  of  all  the  same  Copper, 
so  to  be  gotten  or  had,  as  is  aforesaid,  without  any  other  Manner 
of  Profit  or  Account,  to  be  given  or  yielded  to  Us  ...  for  or  in 
Respect  of  the  same : 

X.  AND  that  they  shall,  or  lawfully  may,  establish  and  cause 
to  be  made  a  Coin,  to  pass  current  there  between  the  People  of 
those  several  Colonies,  for  the  more  Ease  of  Traffick  and  Bar 
gaining  between  and  amongst  them  and  the  Natives  there,  of 
such  Metal,  and  in  such  Manner  and  Form,  as  the  said  several 
Councils  there  shall  limit  and  appoint. 

XI.  AND  we  do  likewise  .  .  .  give  full  Power  and  Authority  to 
the  said  Sir  Thomas  Gates  .  .  .  [and  others]  .  .  .,  and  to  every  of 
them,  and  to  the  said  several  Companies,  Plantations,  and  Colonies, 
that  they  .  .  .  shall  and  may,  at  all  and  every  time  and  times 
hereafter,  have,  take,  and  lead  in  the  said  Voyage,  and  for  and 
towards  the  said  several  Plantations  and  Colonies,  and  to  travel 
thitherward,  and  to  abide  and  inhabit  there,  in  every  the  said 
Colonies  and  Plantations,  such  and  so  many  of  our  Subjects,  as 
shall  willingly  accompany  them,  or    any  of    them,  in  ths  said 
Voyages  and  Plantations;  With  sufficient  Shipping,  and  Furniture 
of  Armour,  Weapons,  Ordinance,  Powder,  Victual,  and  all  other 
things,  necessary  for  the  said  Plantations,  and  for  their  Use  and 
Defence  there :  PROVIDED  always,  that  none  of  the  said  Persons  be 
such,  as  shall  hereafter  be  specially  restrained  by  Us.  .  .  . 

XII.  MOREOVER,  we  do  ...  GIVE  AND  GRANT  Licence  unto 
the  said  Sir  Thomas  Gates  .  .  .  [and  others]  .  .  . ,  and  to  every  of 
the  said  Colonies,  that  they   .  .  .  shall  and  may  ...  for  their 
several  Defences,  encounter,  expulse,  repel,  and  resist,  as  well  by 
Sea  as  by  Land,  by  all  Ways  and  Means  whatsoever,  all  and 


6  FIRST   CHARTER   OF   VIRGINIA          [April  10/20 

every  such  Person  and  Persons,  as  without  the  especial  Licence 
of  the  said  several  Colonies  and  Plantations,  shall  attempt  to  in 
habit  within  the  said  several  Precincts  and  Limits  of  the  said 
several  Colonies  and  Plantations,  or  any  of  them,  or  that  shall  en 
terprise  or  attempt,  at  any  time  hereafter,  the  Hurt,  Detriment,  or 
Annoyance,  of  the  said  several  Colonies  or  Plantations: 

XIII.  GIVING  AND  GRANTING,  by  these  Presents,  unto  the  said 
Sir    Thomas   Gates  .  .  .  [and   others]  .  .  .  and   their  Associates 
of  the  said  first  Colony,  and  unto  the  said  Thomas  Hanham  .  .  . 
[and  others]  .  .  .  and  their  Associates  of  the  said  second  Colony 
.  .  .  Power  and  Authority  to  take  and  surprise,  by  all  Ways  and 
Means  whatsoever,  all  and  every  Person  and  Persons,  with  their 
Ships,  Vessels,  Goods  and  other  Furniture,  which  shall  be  found 
trafficking,  into  any  Harbour  or  Harbours,  Creek  or  Creeks,  or 
Place,  within  the  Limits  or  Precincts  of  the  said  several  Colonies 
and  Plantations,  not  being  of  the  same  Colony,  until  such  time, 
as  they,  being  of  any  Realms  or  Dominions  under  our  Obedience, 
shall  pay,  or  agree  to  pay,  to  the  Hands  of  the  Treasurer  of  that 
Colony,  within  whose  Limits  and  Precincts  they  shall  so  traffick, 
two  and  a  half  upon  every  Hundred,  of  any  thing,  so  by  them 
trafficked,  bought,  or  sold;  And  being  Strangers,  and  not  Subjects 
under  our  Obeysance,  until  they  shall  pay  five  upon  every  Hundred, 
of  such  Wares  and  Merchandises,  as  they  shall  traffick,  buy,  or  sell, 
within  the  Precincts  of  the  said  several  Colonies,  wherein  they 
shall  so  traffick,  buy,  or  sell,  as  aforesaid ;  WHICH  Sums  of  Money, 
or  Benefit,  as  aforesaid,  for  and  during  the  Space  of  one  and 
twenty  Years,  next  ensuing  the  Date  hereof,  shall  be  wholly  em- 
ploied  to  the  Use,  Benefit,  and  Behoof  of  the  said  several  Plan 
tations,  where  such  Traffick  shall  be  made;    And  after  the  said 
one  and  twenty  Years  ended,  the  same  shall  be  taken  to  the  Use 
of  Us  ...  by  such  Officers  and  Ministers,  as  by  Us  ...  shall 
be  thereunto  assigned  or  appointed. 

XIV.  AND   we   do   further  .  .  .  GIVE  AND   GRANT  unto   the 
said  Sir  Thomas  Gates  .  .  .  [and  others]  .  .  .,  and  to  their  As 
sociates  of  the  said  first  Colony  and  Plantation,  and  to  the  said 
Thomas   Hanham  .  .  .  [and   others]  .  .  .,  and  their  Associates 
of   the   said   second   Colony  and   Plantation,   that  they  ...  by 
their  Deputies,  Ministers,  and  Factors,  may  transport  the  Goods, 
Chattels,  Armour,  Munition,  and  Furniture,  needful  to  be  used 


1606]  FIRST   CHARTER   OF   VIRGINIA  7 

by  them,  for  their  said  Apparel,  Food,  Defence,  or  otherwise  in 
Respect  of  the  said  Plantations,  out  of  our  Realms  of  England 
and  Ireland,  and  all  other  our  Dominions,  from  time  to  time, 
for  and  during  the  Time  of  seven  Years,  next  ensuing  the  Date 
hereof,  for  the  better  Relief  of  the  said  several  Colonies  and 
Plantations,  without  any  Custom,  Subsidy,  or  other  Duty,  unto 
Us  ...  to  be  yielded  or  paid  for  the  same. 

XV.  ALSO  we  do  ...  DECLARE  . . .  that  all  and  every  the  Persons, 
being  our  Subjects,  which  shall  dwell  and  inhabit  within  every  or 
any  of  the  said  several  Colonies  and  Plantations,  and  every  of 
their  children,  which  shall  happen  to  be  born  within  any  of  the 
Limits  and  Precincts  of  the  said  several  Colonies  and  Plantations, 
shall  HAVE  and  enjoy  all  Liberties,  Franchises,  and  Immunities, 
within  any  of  our  other  Dominions,  to  all  Intents  and  Purposes, 
as  if  they  had  been  abiding  and  born,  within  this  our  Realm  of 
England,  or  any  other  of  our  said  Dominions. 

XVI.  MOREOVER,  our  gracious  Will  and  Pleasure  is,  and  we 
do  ...  declare  and  set  forth,   that  if    any  Person  or  Persons, 
which  shall  be  of  any  of  the  said  Colonies  and  Plantations,  or  any 
other,  which  shall  traffick  to  the  said  Colonies  and  Plantations,  or 
any  of  them,  shall,  at  any  time  or  times  hereafter,  transport  any 
Wares,  Merchandises,  or  Commodities,  out  of  any  our  Dominions, 
with  a  Pretence  to  land,  sell,  or  otherwise  dispose  of  the  same, 
within  any  the  Limits  and  Precincts  of  any  the  said  Colonies  and 
Plantations,  and  yet  nevertheless,  being  at  Sea,  or  after  he  hath 
landed  the  same  within  any  of  the  said  Colonies  and  Plantations, 
shall  carry  the  same  into  any  other  Foreign  Country,  with  a  Purpose 
there  to  sell  or  dispose  of  the  same,  without  the  Licence  of  Us  ... 
in  that  Behalf  first  had  and  abtained;  That  then,  all  the  Goods 
and  Chattels  of  such  Person  or  Persons,  so  offending  and  trans 
porting,  together  with   the   said   Ship  or  Vessel,  wrherein   such 
Transportation  was  made,  shall  be  forfeited  to  Us  ... 

XVII.  PROVIDED  always,  and  our  Will  and  Pleasure  is,  and  we 
do  hereby  declare  to  all  Christian  Kings,   Princes,  and  States, 
that  if  any  Person  or  Persons,  which  shall  hereafter  be  of  any  of 
the  said  several  Colonies  and  Plantations,  or  any  other,  by  his, 
their  or  any  of  their  Licence  and  Appointment,  shall,  at  any  time 
or  times  hereafter,  rob  or  spoil,  by  Sea  or  by  Land,  or  do  any 
Act  of  unjust  and  unlawful  Hostility,  to  any  the  Subjects  of  Us.  .  . 


8  FIRST   CHARTER   OF   VIRGINIA        [April  10/24 

or  any  the  Subjects  of  any  King,  Prince,  Ruler,  Governor,  or 
State,  being  then  in  League  or  Amity  with  Us  .  .  .,  and  that 
upon  such  Injury,  or  upon  just  Complaint  of  such  Prince,  Ruler, 
Governor,  or  State,  or  their  Subjects,  We  .  .  .  shall  make  open 
Proclamation,  within  any  of  the  Ports  of  our  Realm  of  England, 
commodious  for  that  Purpose,  That  the  said  Person  or  Persons, 
having  committed  any  such  Robbery  or  Spoil,  shall,  within  the 
Term  to  be  limited  by  such  Proclamations,  make  full  Restitution 
or  Satisfaction  of  all  such  Injuries  done,  so  as  the  said  Princes, 
or  others,  so  complaining,  may  hold  themselves  fully  satisfied 
and  contented;  And  that,  if  the  said  Person  or  Persons,  having 
committed  such  Robbery  or  Spoil,  shall  not  make,  or  cause  to 
be  made,  Satisfaction  accordingly,  within  such  Time  so  to  be 
limited,  That  then  it  shall  be  lawful  to  Us  ...  to  put  the  said 
Person  or  Persons,  having  committed  such  Robbery  or  Spoil,  and 
their  Procurers,  Abetters,  or  Comforters,  out  of  our  Allegiance 
and  Protection ;  And  that  it  shall  be  lawful  and  free,  for  all  Princes 
and  others,  to  pursue  with  Hostility  the  said  Offenders,  and  every 
of  them,  and  their  and  every  of  their  Procurers,  Aiders,  Abetters, 
and  Comforters,  in  that  Behalf. 

XVIII.  AND  finally,  we  do  ...  GRANT  and  agree,  to  and  with 
the  said  Sir  Thomas  Gates  .  .  .  [and  others]  .  .  .,  and  all  others 
of  the  said  first  Colony,  that  We  .  .  .,  upon  Petition  in  that  Behalf 
to  be  made,  shall,  by  Letters-patent  under  the  Great  Seal  of  England, 
GIVE  and  GRANT  unto  such  Persons,  their  Heirs,  and  Assigns,  as 
the  Council  of  that  Colony,  or  the  most  Part  of  them,  shall,  for  that 
Purpose  nominate  and  assign,  all  the  Lands,  Tenements,  and 
Hereditaments,  which  shall  be  within  the  Precincts  limited  for  that 
Colony,  as  is  aforesaid,  To  BE  HOLDEN  of  Us,  our  Heirs,  and 
Successors,  as  of  our  Manor  at  East-Greenwich  in  the  County  of 
Kent,  in  free  and  common  Soccage  only,  and  not  in  Capite: 

XIX.  [Tenure  of  land  under  the  second  colony  as  in  Section 
XVIII.] 

XX.  ALL  which  Lands,  Tenements,  and  Hereditaments,  so  to 
be  passed  by  the  said  several  Letters-patent,  shall  be  sufficient 
Assurance  from  the  said  Patentees,  so  distributed  and  divided 
amongst  the  Undertakers  for  the  Plantation  of  the  said  several 
Colonies,  and  such  as  shall  make  their  Plantations  in  either  of 
the  said  several  Colonies,  in  such  Manner  and  Form,  and  for  such 


<6o9]  SECOND    CHARTER   OF   VIRGINIA  g 

Estates,  as  shall  be  ordered  and  set  down  by  the  Council  of  the 
said  Colony,  or  the  most  Part  of  them,  respectively,  within  which 
the  same  Lands,  Tenements,  and  Hereditaments  shall  lye  or  be; 
Although  express  Mention  of  the  true  yearly  Value  or  Certainty  of 
the  Premises,  or  any  of  them,  or  of  any  other  Gifts  or  Grants,  by 
Us  or  any  of  our  Progenitors  or  Predecessors,  to  the  aforesaid  Sir 
Thomas  Gates  .  .  .  [and  others]  .  .  .,  or  any  of  them,  heretofore 
made,  in  these  Presents,  is  not  made;  Or  any  Statute,  Act,  Or 
dinance,  or  Provision,  Proclamation,  or  Restraint,  to  the  con 
trary  hereof  had,  made,  ordained,  or  any  other  Thing,  Cause,  or 
Matter  whatsoever,  in  any  wise  notwithstanding.  .  .  . 


No.  2.     Second  Charter  of  Virginia 

May  23/June  2,  1609 

IN  January,  1609,  Newport  returned  from  Virginia,  bringing  various  papers 
setting  forth  the  condition  of  the  colony.  The  first  charter,  in  itself  essen 
tially  experimental,  had  already  proved  defective;  and  this,  together  with 
the  discouraging  outlook  for  the  Compan  ,  led  to  an  application  for  a  new 
charter,  with  larger  and  more  specific  privileges.  The  first  drafts  of  both  the 
second  and  the  third  charters,  annexed  to  the  petitions,  were  probably  drawn 
by  Sir  Edwin  Sandys,  but  the  final  form  in  each  case  was  the  work  of  Sir 
Henry  Hobart,  attorney-general,  and  Sir  Francis  Bacon,  solicitor-general. 
With  the  second  charter  the  connection  between  the  Plymouth  Company  and 
the  London  Company  ceased,  and  the  latter  became  a  separate  corporate  body. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Stith's  History  of  Virginia  (Sabin's  ed.,  1865), 
Appendix  II.  The  Records  of  the  Virginia  Company  of  London,  1619-1624, 
have  been  edited  by  Susan  M.  Kingsbury;  see  also  Brown's  First  Republic 
in  America,  73-165. 

[The  charter  begins  with  a  recital  of  the  grant  of  1606,  and 
continues :] 

II.  Now,  forasmuch  as  divers  and  sundry  of  our  loving  Sub 
jects,  as  well  Adventurers,  as  Planters,  of  the  said  first  Colony 
,  .  .  have  of  late  been  humble  Suitors  unto  Us,  that  (in  Respect 
•of  their  great  Charges  and  the  Adventure  of  many  of  their  Lives, 
which  they  have  hazarded  in  the  said  Discovery  and  Plantation 
of  the  said  Country)  We  would  be  pleased  to  grant  them  a  further 
Enlargement  and  Explanation  of  the  said  Grant,  Privileges,  and 


10  SECOND    CHARTER   OF   VIRGINIA    [May  23/June  2 

Liberties,  and  that  such  Counsellors,  and  other  Officers,  may  be 
appointed  amongst  them,  to  manage  and  direct  their  affairs,  as  are 
willing  and  ready  to  adventure  with  them,  as  also  whose  Dwellings 
are  not  so  far  remote  from  the  City  of  London,  but  that  they  may, 
at  convenient  Times,  be  ready  at  Hand,  to  give  their  Advice  and 
Assistance,  upon  all  Occasions  requisite. 

III.  WE  ...  Do  ...  GIVE,  GRANT,  and  CONFIRM,  to  our 
trusty  and  well-beloved  Subjects,  Robert,  Earl  of  Salisbury  .  .  . 
[and  others  l]  .  .  .  ;  AND  to  such,  and  so  many,  as  they  do,  or 
shall  hereafter,  admit  to  be  joined  with  them,  in  Form  hereafter 
in  these  Presents  expressed,  whether  they  go  in  their  Persons,  to 
be  Planters  there  in  the  said  Plantation,  or  whether  they  go  not, 
but  adventure  their  Monies,  Goods,  or  Chattels;  THAT  they  shall 
be  one  Body  or  Commonalty  perpetual,  and  shall  have  perpetual 
Succession,  and  one  common  Seal,  to  serve  for  the  said  Body  or 
Commonalty;  And  that  they,  and  theb  Successors,  shall  be  KNOWN, 
CALLED,  and  INCORPORATED  by  the  Name  of,  The  Treasurer  and 
Company  of  Adventurers  and  Planters  of  the  City  of  London  for 
the  first  Colony  in  Virginia: 

******** 

VI.  AND  we  do  also  .  .  .  GIVE,  GRANT  and  CONFIRM,  unto  the 
said  Treasurer  and  Company,  and  their  Successors,  under  the  Reser 
vations,   Limitations,  and  Declarations,  hereafter  expressed,  all 
those  Lands,  Countries,  and  Territories,  situate,  lying,  and  being, 
in  that  Part  of  America  called  VIRGINIA,  from  the  Point  of  Land, 
called  Cape  or  Point  Comfort,  all  along  the  Sea  Coast,  to  the 
Northward  two  hundred  Miles,  and  from  the  said  Point  of  Cape 
Comfort,  all  along  the  Sea  Coast,  to  the  Southward  two  hundred 
Miles,  and  all  that  Space  and  Circuit  of  Land,  lying  from  the  Sea 
Coast  of  the  Precinct  aforesaid,  up  into  the  Land,  throughout 
from  Sea  to  Sea,  West,  and  Northwest;   And  also  all  the  Islands, 
lying  within  one  hundred  Miles,  along  the  Coast  of  both  Seas  of 
the    Precinct   aforesaid.  .  .  . 

VII.  AND  nevertheless,  our  Will  and  Pleasure  is,  and  we  do, 
by  these  Presents,   charge,   command,   warrant,   and  authorise, 

1  "The  incorporators  of  this  charter  were  56  city  companies  of  London  and 
659  persons;  of  whom  21  were  peers,  96  knights,  n  doctors,  ministers,  etc.,  53 
captains,  28  esquires,  58  gentlemen,  no  merchants,  and  282  citizens  and  others 
not  classified."  Brown's  Genesis  of  the  United  States,  L,  228,  note  i.  The  list 
of  incorporators  is  given  in  full  by  Brown.  —  ED. 


1609]  SECOND   CHARTER   OF   VIRGINIA  II 

that  the  said  Treasurer  and  Company,  or  their  Successors,  or  the 
major  Part  of  them,  which  shall  be  present  and  assembled  for 
that  Purpose,  shall,  from  time  to  time,  under  their  Common  Seal, 
DISTRIBUTE,  convey,  assign,  and  set  over,  such  particular  Por 
tions  of  Lands,  Tenements,  and  Hereditaments,  by  these  Presents, 
formerly  granted,  unto  such  our  loving  Subjects,  naturally  born, 
or  Denizens,  or  others,  as  well  Adventurers  as  Planters,  as  by  the 
said  Company  (upon  a  Commission  of  Survey  and  Distribution, 
executed  and  returned  for  that  Purpose),  shall  be  nominated, 
appointed,  and  allowed;  Wherein  our  Will  and  Pleasure  is,  that 
Respect  be  had,  as  well  of  the  Proportion  of  the  Adventurer,  as 
to  the  special  Service,  Hazard,  Exploit,  or  Merit  of  any  Person, 
so  to  be  recompenced,  advanced,  or  rewarded. 

VIII.  AND  forasmuch,  as  the  good  and  prosperous  Success  of 
the  said  Plantation  cannot  but  chiefly  depend,  next  under  the 
Blessing  of  God,  and  the  Support  of  our  Royal  Authority,  upon 
the  provident  and  good  Direction  of  the  whole  Enterprize,  by  a 
careful  and  understanding  Council,  and  that  it  is  not  convenient, 
that  all  the  Adventurers  shall  be  so  often  drawn  to  meet  and 
assemble,  as  shall  be  requisite  for  them  to  have  Meetings  and 
Conference  about  the  Affairs  thereof;  Therefore  we  DO  ORDAIN, 
establish,  and  confirm,  that  there  shall  be  perpetually  one  COUNCIL 
here  resident,  according  to  the  Tenour  of  our  former  Letters- 
patents  .  .  . 

******** 

XIII.  AND   further  ...  we   do  ...  GIVE   and    GRANT   full 
Power  and  Authority  to  our  said  Council,  here  resident,  as  well 
at  this  present  Time,  as  hereafter  from  time  to  time,  to  nominate, 
make,  constitute,  ordain,  and  confirm,  by  such  Name  or  Names, 
Stile  or  Stiles,  as  to  them  shall  seem  good,  And  likewise  to  revoke, 
discharge,  change,  and  alter,  as  well  all  and  singular  Governors, 
Officers,  and  Ministers,  which  already  have  been  made,  as  also 
which  hereafter  shall  be  by  them  thought  fit  and  needful  to  be 
made  or  used,  for  the  Government  of  the  said  Colony  and  Plan 
tation  : 

XIV.  AND  also  to  make,  ordain,  and  establish  all  Manner  of 
Orders,  Laws,  Directions,  Instructions,  Forms,  and  Ceremonies 
of  Government  and  Magistracy,  fit  and  necessary,  for  and  con 
cerning  the  Government  of  the  said  Colony  and  Plantation;   And 


12  SECOND   CHARTER   OF   VIRGINIA    [May  23/June  a 

the  same,  at  all  times  hereafter,  to  abrogate,  revoke,  or  change, 
not  only  within  the  Precincts  of  the  said  Colony,  but  also  upon 
the  Seas  in  going  and  coming,  to  and  from  the  said  Colony,  as 
they,  in  their  good  Discretion,  shall  think  to  be  fittest  for  the 
Good  of  the  Adventurers  and  Inhabitants  there. 

******** 

XVI.  AND  we  do  further  .  .  .  ORDAIN  and  establish,  that 
the  said  Treasurer  and  Council  here  resident,  and  their  Successors, 
or  any  four  of  them,  being  assembled  (the  Treasurer  being  one) 
shall,  from  time  to  time,  have  full  Power  and  Authority,  to  admit 
and  receive  any  other  Person  into  their  Company,  Corporation, 
and  Freedom;  And  further,  in  a  General  Assembly  of  the  Ad 
venturers,  with  the  Consent  of  the  greater  Part,  upon  good  Cause, 
to  disfranchise  and  put  out  any  Person  or  Persons,  out  of  the  said 

Freedom  or  Company. 

******** 

XIX.  AND  for  their  further  Encouragement  ...  we  do  ... 
YIELD  and  GRANT,  to  and  with  the  said  Treasurer  and  Company, 
and  their  Successors,  and  every  of  them,  their  Factors,  and 
Assigns,  that  they,  and  every  of  them,  shall  be  free  of  all  Sub 
sidies  and  Customs  in  Virginia,  for  the  Space  of  one  and  twenty 
Years,  and  from  all  Taxes  and  Impositions,  for  ever,  upon  any 
Goods  or  Merchandises,  at  any  time  or  times  hereafter,  either 
upon  Importation  thither,  or  Exportation  from  thence,  into  our 
Realm  of  England,  or  into  any  other  of  our  Realms  or  Dominions, 
by  the  said  Treasurer  and  Company,  and  their  Successors,  their 
Deputies,  Factors,  or  Assigns,  or  any  of  them:  EXCEPT  only  the 
five  Pounds  per  Cent,  due  for  Custom,  upon  all  such  Goods  and 
Merchandises,  as  shall  be  brought  or  imported  into  our  Realm  of 
England,  or  any  other  of  these  our  Dominions,  according  to  the 
ancient  Trade  of  Merchants;  WHICH  FIVE  POUNDS  per  Cent.  ONLY 
being  paid,  it  shall  be  thenceforth  lawful  and  free  for  the  said 
Adventurers,  the  same  Goods  and  Merchandises  to  export,  and 
carry  out  of  our  said  Dominions,  into  foreign  Parts,  without  any 
Custom,  Tax,  or  other  Duty,  to  be  paid  to  us  ...  or  to  any 
other  our  Officers  or  Deputies:  PROVIDED,  that  the  said  Goods 
and  Merchandises  be  shipped  out,  within  thirteen  Months,  after 
their  first  Landing  within  any  Part  of  these  Dominions. 
******** 


i6og]  SECOND    CHARTER   OF   VIRGINIA  13 

XXIII.  AND  forasmuch,  as  it  shall  be  necessary  for  all  such 
our  loving  Subjects,  as  shall  inhabit  within  the  said  Precincts  of 
Virginia,  aforesaid,   to  determine  to  live  together,   in  the  Fear 
and  true  Worship  of  Almighty  God,  Christian  Peace,  and  civil 
Quietness,  each  with  other,  whereby  every  one  may,  with  more 
Safety,  Pleasure,  and  Profit,  enjoy  that,   whereunto  they  shall 
attain  with  great  Pain  and  Peril;   WE  ...  do  GIVE  and  GRANT 
unto  the  said  Treasurer  and  Company,  and  their  Successors,  and 
to  such  Governors,  Officers,  and  Ministers,  as  shall  be,  by  our 
said  Council,  constituted  and  appointed,  according  to  the  Natures 
and  Limits  of  their  Offices  and  Places  respectively,   that  they 
shall  and  may,  from  time  to  time  for  ever  hereafter,  within  the 
said  Precincts  of  Virginia,  or  in  the  way  by  Sea  thither  and  from 
thence,  have  full  and  absolute  Power  and  Authority,  to  correct, 
punish,  pardon,  govern,  and  rule,  all  such  the  Subjects  of  Us 
...  as  shall,  from  time  to  time,  adventure  themselves  in  any 
Voyage  thither,  or  that  shall,  at  any  time  hereafter,  inhabit  in 
the  Precincts  and  Territories  of  the  said  Colony,  as  aforesaid, 
according  to  such  Orders,  Ordinances,  Constitutions,  Directions, 
and  Instructions,  as  by  our  said  Council,  as  aforesaid,  shall  be 
established;    And  in  Defect  thereof,  in  case  of  Necessity,  accord 
ing  to  the  good  Discretions  of  the  said  Governcr  and  Officers, 
respectively,  as  well  in  Cases  capital  and  criminal  as  civil,  both 
marine  and  other;    So  always,  as  the  said  Statutes,  Ordinances, 
and  Proceedings,  as  near  as  conveniently  may  be,  be  agreeable 
to  the  Laws,  Statutes,  Government,  and  Policy  of  this  our  Realm 
of  England. 

XXIV.  AND  we  do  further  .  .  .  GRANT,  DECLARE,  and  ORDAIN, 
that  such  principal  Governor,  as,  from  time  to  time,  shall  duly 
and  lawfully  be  authorised  and  appointed,  iii  Manner  and   Form 
in  these  Presents  heretofore  expressed,  shall  have  full  Power  and 
Authority,  to  use  and  exercise  Martial  Law,  in  Cases  of  Rebellion 
or  Mutiny,  in  as  large  and  ample  Manner,  as  our  Lieutenants  in 
our  Counties,  within  this  our  Realm  of  England,  have,  or  ought 
to  have,  by  Force  of  their  Commissions  of  Lieutenancy. 

******** 

XXIX.  AND  lastly,  because  the  principal  Effect,  which  we  can 
desire  or  expect  of  this  Action,  is  the  Conversion  and  Reduction 
of  the  People  in  those  Parts  unto  the  true  Worship  of  God  and 


14  THIRD    CHARTER   OF   VIRGINIA        [March  12/22 

Christian  Religion,  in  which  Respect  we  should  be  loath,  that 
any  Person  should  be  permitted  to  pass,  that  we  suspected  to 
affect  the  superstitions  of  the  Church  of  Rome;  We  do  hereby 
DECLARE,  that  it  is  our  Will  and  Pleasure,  that  none  be  permitted 
to  pass  in  any  Voyage,  from  time  to  time  to  be  made  into  the 
said  Country,  but  such,  as  first  shall  have  taken  the  Oath  of 
Supremacy;  For  which  Purpose,  we  do,  by  these  Presents,  give 
full  Power  and  Authority,  to  the  Treasurer  for  the  time  being, 
and  any  three  of  the  Council,  to  tender  and  exhibit  the  said  Oath, 
to  all  such  Persons,  as  shall  at  any  time,  be  sent  and  employed 
in  the  said  Voyage.  ...  • 


No.  3.    Third  Charter  of  Virginia 

March  12/22,  1611/12 

THE  immediate  reason  for  the  third  charter  of  Virginia  was  the  desire  to 
include  within  the  limits  of  the  Company  the  Bermudas,  or  Somers  Islands, 
respecting  whose  beauty,  fertility,  and  wealth  glowing  reports  had  been  re 
ceived;  but  the  failure  of  many  subscribers  to  pay  their  subscriptions,  and  the 
consequent  low  state  of  the  treasury,  emphasized  the  need  of  stronger  powers 
of  control.  The  petition  was  probably  granted  before  November,  1610;  but 
the  names  of  subscribers  were  obtained  with  difficulty,  and  it  was  March,  1612, 
before  the  charter  passed  the  seals.  The  rights  in  the  Bermudas  were  subse 
quently  sold  by  the  Company  to  some  of  its  own  members,  who,  in  1614, 
obtained  a  charter  as  the  Somers  Islands  Company.  The  Virginia  charter 
of  1612  was  annulled  by  writ  of  quo  warranto  in  1624. 

REFERENCES. — 'Text  in  Stith's  History  of  Virginia  (Sabin's  ed.,  1865),' 
Appendix  III.  Hening's  Statutes  at  Large,  I.,  gives  the  early  laws  of  the 
colony.  The  royal  proclamation  of  1625  is  in  Hazard's  Historical  Collections, 
I.,  203-205.  See  also  Brown's  First  Republic  in  America,  165-648. 

[The  charter  begins  with  a  recital  of  the  grant  of  1609,  and 
continues :] 

III.  Now,  forasmuch  as  we  are  given  to  understand,  that  in 
those  Seas,  adjoining  to  the  said  Coasts  of  Virginia,  and  without 
the  Compass  of  those  two  hundred  Miles  .  .  .,  and  yet  not  far 
distant  from  the  said  Colony  in  Virginia,  there  are,  or  may  be, 
divers  Islands,  lying  desolate  and  uninhabited,  some  of  which  are 
already  made  known  and  discovered,  by  the  Industry,  Travel,  and 
Expences  of  the  said  Company,  and  others  also  are  supposed  to  be 


i6n/i2]  THIRD    CHARTER   OF   VIRGINIA  15 

and  remain,  as  yet,  unknown  and  undiscovered,  all  and  every  of 
which  it  may  import  the  said  Colony,  both  in  Safety  and  Policy 
of  Trade,  to  populate  and  plant,  in  Regard  whereof,  as  well  for 
the  preventing  of  Peril,  as  for  the  better  Commodity  and  Pros 
perity  of  the  said  Colony,  they  have  been  humble  Suitors  unto 
us,  that  we  would  be  pleased  to  grant  unto  them  an  Enlargement 
of  our  said  former  Letters  Patents  .  .  .  : 

IV.  WE  therefore  ...  do  ...  GIVE,  GRANT,  and  CONFIRM 
to  the  said  Treasurer  and  Company  of  Adventurers  and  Planters 
of  the  city  of  London  for  the  first  Colony  in  Virginia,  and  to  their 
Heirs  and  Successors,  for  ever,  all  and  singular  those  Islands 
whatsoever,  situate  and  being  in  any  Part  of  the  Ocean  Seas 
bordering  upon  the  Coast  of  our  said  first  Colony  in  Virginia, 
and  being  within  three  hundred  Leagues  of  any  of  the  Parts  hereto 
fore  granted  to  the  said  Treasurer  and  Company,  in  our  said 
former  Letters  Patents,  as  aforesaid,  and  being  within  or  between 
the  one  and  fortieth  and  thirtieth  Degrees  of  Northerly  Latitude; 
.  .  .  Provided  always,  that  the  said  Islands,  or  any  the  Premises 
herein  mentioned,  or  by  these  Presents  intended  or  meant  to  be 
granted,  be  not  actually  possessed  or  inhabited  by  any  other 
Christian  Prince  or  Estate,  nor  be  within  the  Bounds,  Limits, 
or  Territories  of  the  Northern  Colony,  heretofore  by  Us  granted 
to  be  planted  by  divers  of  our  loving  Subjects,  in  the  North  Parts 
of  Virginia  .  .  . 

******** 

VII.  AND  We  do  hereby  ORDAIN  and    GRANT  .  .  .  that   the 
said  Treasurer  and  Company  of  Adventurers  and  Planters  afore 
said,  shall  and  may,  once  every  Week,  or  oftener,  at  their  Pleasure, 
hold  and  keep  a  Court  and  Assembly,  for  the  better  Order  and 
Government  of  the  said  Plantation,  and  such  things,  as  shall 
concern  the  same.  .  .  . 

VIII.  AND  that  nevertheless,  for  the  handling,  ordering,  and 
disposing  of  Matters  and  Affairs  of  greater  Weight  and  Impor 
tance,  and  such,  as  shall  or  may,  in  any  Sort,  concern  the  Weal 
Publick  and  general  Good  of  the  said  Company  and  Plantation, 
as  namely,  the  Manner  of  Government  from  time  to  time  to  be 
used,  the  Ordering  and  Disposing  of  the  Lands  and  Possessions, 
and  the  Settling  and  Establishing  of  a  Trade  there,  or  such  like, 
there  shall  be  held  and  kept,  every  Year,  upon  the  last  Wednes' 


l6  THIRD    CHARTER   OF   VIRGINIA        [March  12/22 

day,  save  one.  of  Hillary  Term,  Easter,  Trinity,  and  Michaelmas 
Terms,  for  ever,  one  great,  general,  and  solemn  Assembly,  which 
four  Assemblies  shall  be  stiled  and  called,  The  four  Great  and 
General  Courts  of  the  Council  and  Company  of  Adventurers  for 
Virginia;  In  all  and  every  of  which  said  Great  and  General  Courts, 
so  assembled.  .  . ,  the  said  Treasurer  and  Company,  or  the  greater 
Number  of  them,  so  assembled,  shall  and  may  have  full  Power 
and  Authority  ...  to  elect  and  chuse  discreet  Persons,  to  be  of 
our  said  Council  for  the  said  first  Colony  in  Virginia,  and  to  nomi- 
.nate  and  appoint  such  Officers,  as  they  shall  think  fit  and  requisite, 
for  the  Government,  Managing,  Ordering,  and  Dispatching  of 
the  Affairs  of  the  said  Company;  And  shall  likewise  have  full 
Power  and  Authority,  to  ordain  and  make  such  Laws  and  Ordi 
nances,  for  the  Good  and  Welfare  of  the  said  Plantation,  as  to  them, 
from  time  to  time,  shall  be  thought  requisite  and  meet :  So  always, 
as  the  same  be  not  contrary  to  the  Laws  and  Statutes  of  this  our 
Realm  of  England.  .  .  . 

******** 

XIV.  AND  furthermore,  whereas  we  have  been  certified,  that 
divers  lewd  and  ill-disposed  Persons,  both  Sailers,  Soldiers,  Ar 
tificers,  Husbandmen,  Labourers,  and.  others,  having  received 
Wages,  Apparel,  and  other  Entertainment  from  the  said  Com 
pany,  or  having  contracted  and  agreed  with  the  said  Company,  to 
go,  or  to  serve,  or  to  be  employed  in  the  said  Plantation  of  the 
said  first  Colony  in  Virginia,  have  afterwards,  either  withdrawn, 
hid,  or  concealed  themselves,  or  have  refused  to  go  thither,  after 
they  have  been  so  entertained  and  agreed  withal;  And  that 
divers  and  sundry  Persons  also,  which  have  been  sent  and  em 
ployed  in  the  said  Plantation  of  the  said  first  Colony  in  Virginia, 
at  and  upon  the  Charge  of  the  said  Company,  and  having  there 
misbehaved  themselves  by  Mutinies,  Sedition,  or  other  notorious 
Misdemeanors,  or  having  been  employed  or  sent  abroad,  by  the 
Governor  of  Virginia  or  his  Deputy,  with  some  Ship  or  Pinnace, 
for  our  Provision  of  the  said  Colony,  or  for  some  Discovery,  or 
other  Business  and  Affairs,  concerning  the  same,  have  from  thence 
most  treacherously,  either  come  back  again  and  returned  into  our 
Realm  of  England,  by  Stealth,  or  without  Licence  of  our  Governor 
of  our  said  Colony  in  Virginia  for  the  time  being,  or  have  been 
sent  hither,  as  Misdoers  and  Offenders;  And  that  many  also  of 


i6u/i2]  THIRD    CHARTER   OF   VIRGINIA  I7 

those  Persons,  after  their  Return  from  thence,  having  been  ques 
tioned  by  our  said  Council  here,  for  such  their  Misbehaviors  and 
Offences,  by  their  insolent  and  contemptuous  Carriage  in  the 
Presence  of  our  said  Council,  have  shewed  little  Respect  and 
Reverence,  either  to  the  Place,  or  Authority,  in  which  we  have 
placed  and  appointed  them;  And  others,  for  the  colouring  of 
their  Lewdness  and  Misdemeanors  committed  in  Virginia,  have 
endeavoured,  by  most  vile  and  slanderous  Reports,  made  and 
divulged,  as  well  of  the  Country  of  Virginia,  as  also  of  the  Gov 
ernment  and  Estate  of  the  said  Plantation  and  Colony,  as  much  as 
in  them  lay,  to  bring  the  said  Voyage  and  Plantation  into  Dis 
grace  and  Contempt ;  By  Means  whereof,  not  only  the  Adventurers 
and  Planters,  already  engaged  in  the  said  Plantation,  have  been 
exceedingly  abused  and  hindered,  and  a  great  Number  of  other 
our  loving  and  well-disposed  Subjects,  otherwise  well-affected, 
and  inclined  to  join  and  adventure  in  so  noble,  Christian,  and 
worthy  an  Action,  have  been  discouraged  from  the  same,  but 
also  the  utter  Overthrow  and  Ruin  of  the  said  Enterprise  hath 
been  greatly  endangered,  which  cannot  miscarry  without  some 
Dishonour  to  Us  and  our  Kingdom; 

XV.  Now,  forasmuch  as  it  appeareth  unto  us,  that  these  Inso 
lences,  Misdemeanors,  and  Abuses,  not  to  be  tolerated  in  any 
civil  Government,  have,  for  the  most  part,  grown  and  proceeded, 
in  regard  our  said  Council  have  not  any  direct  Power  and  Au 
thority,  by  any  express  Words  in  our  former  Letters  Patents,  to 
correct  and  chastise  such  Offenders;  We  therefore,  for  more 
speedy  Reformation  of  so  great  and  enormous  Abuses  and  Mis 
demeanors,  heretofore  practised  and  committed,  and  for  the  pre 
venting  of  the  like  hereafter,  do  ...  GIVE  AND  GRANT  to  the  said 
Treasurer  and  Company,  and  their  Successors  for  ever,  that  it 
shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  our  said  Council  for  the  said  first 
Colony  in  Virginia,  or  any  two  of  them  (whereof  the  said 
Treasurer,  or  his  Deputy  .  .  .  ,  to  be  always  one)  by  Warrant 
under  their  Hands,  to  send  for,  or  to  cause  to  be  apprehended, 
all  and  every  such  Person  and  Persons,  who  shall  be  noted,  or 
accused,  or  found,  at  any  time  or  times  hereafter,  to  offend,  or 
misbehave  themselves,  in  any  the  Offences  before  mentioned  and 
expressed;  And  upon  the  Examination  of  any  such  Offender  or 
Offenders,  and  just  Proof  made  by  Oath,  taken  before  the  said 


1 8  THIRD    CHARTER   OF   VIRGINIA         [March  12/22 

Council,  of  any  such  notorious  Misdemeanors  by  them  committed, 
as  aforesaid;  And  also  upon  any  insolent,  and  contemptuous,  or 
indecent  Carriage  and  Misbehaviour,  to  or  against  our  said  Coun 
cil,  shewed  or  used  by  any  such  Person  or  Persons,  so  called, 
convented,  and  appearing  before  them,  as  aforesaid;  That  in  all 
such  Cases,  they,  our  said  Council,  or  any  two  of  them,  for  the 
time  being,  shall  and  may  have  full  Power  and  Authority,  either 
here  to  bind  them  over  with  good  Sureties  for  their  good  Be 
haviour,  and  further  therein  to  proceed,  to  all  Intents  and  Pur 
poses,  as  it  is  used,  in  other  like  Cases,  within  our  Realm  of 
England;  Or  else,  at  their  Discretions,  to  remand  and  send  back, 
the  said  Offenders,  or  any  of  them,  unto  the  said  Colony  in  Vir 
ginia,  there  to  be  proceeded  against  and  punished,  as  the  Gov 
ernor,  Deputy,  or  Council  there  .  .  .  shall  think  meet;  or  other 
wise,  according  to  such  Laws  and  Ordinances,  as  are  and  shall 
be  in  Use  there,  for  the  Well-ordering  and  good  Government  of 
the  said  Colony. 

XVI.  AND  for  the  more  effectual  Advancing  of  the  said  Plan 
tation,  we  do  further  .  .  .  GIVE  and  GRANT,  unto  the  said  Treas 
urer  and  Company,  full  Power  and  Authority,  free  Leave,  Liberty, 
and  Licence,  to  set  forth,  erect,  and  publish,  one  or  more  Lottery 
or  Lotteries,  to  have  Continuance  .  .  .  for  the  Space  of  our  [one] 
whole  Year,  next  after  the  Opening  of  the  same;    And  after  the 
End  and  Expiration  of  the  said  Term,  the  said  Lottery  or  Lotteries 
to  continue  and  be  further  kept,  during  our  Will  and  Pleasure  only, 
and  not  otherwise.  .  .  . 

XVII.  AND  our  further  Will  and  Pleasure  is,  that  the  said 
Lottery  and  Lotteries  shall  and  may  be  opened  and  held,  within 
our  City  of  London,  or  in  any  other   City  or  Town,  or  else 
where,  within   this   our  Realm   of  England,  with   such   Prizes, 
Articles,  Conditions,   and    Limitations,    as    to    them,    the    said 
Treasurer  and  Company,  in  their  Discretions,  shall  seem  con 
venient  : 

******** 

XX.  AND  further,  our  Will  and  Pleasure  is,  that  in  all  Ques 
tions  and  Doubts,  that  shall  arise,  upon  any  Difficulty  of  Con 
struction  or  Interpretation  of  any  Thing,  contained  in  these,  or 
any  other  our  former  Letters-patents,  the  same  shall  be  taken  and 
interpreted,  in  most  ample  and  beneficial  Manner  for  the  said 


i6u/i2]  MAYFLOWER   COMPACT  19 

Treasurer  and  Company,  and  their  Successors,  and  every  Mem 
ber  thereof. 

XXI.  AND  lastly,  we  do,  by  these  Presents,  RATIFY  AND  CON 
FIRM  unto  the  said  Treasurer  and  Company,  and  their  Successors, 
for  ever,  all  and  all  Manner  of  Privileges,  Franchises,  Liberties, 
Immunities,  Preheminences,  Profits,  and  Commodities,  whatso 
ever,  granted  unto  them  in  any  our  former  Letters-patents,  and 
not  in  these  Presents  revoked,  altered,  changed,  or  abridged. 


No.  4.     Mayflower  Compact 

November  11/21,  1620 

THE  Mayflower  Compact,  drawn  up  on  shipboard,  was  intended  not  only 
as  a  basis  for  the  government  of  the  colony  in  the  absence  of  a  patent,  but 
also,  according  to  Bradford,  as  an  offset  to  the  "discontented  and  mutinous 
speeches"  of  some  of  the  company,  to  the  effect  that  when  they  landed  "they 
would  use  their  own  liberty;  for  none  had  power  to  command  them,  the 
patent  they  had  being  for  Virginia,  and  not  for  New  England,  which  belonged 
to  another  government,  with  which  the  Virginia  Company  had  nothing  to  do." 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Bradford's  History  of  Plymouth  Plantation,  Mass. 
Hist.  Coll.,  Fourth  Series,  III.,  89,  90.  Bradford  does  not  give  a  list  of 
signers.  On  the  early  history  of  the  Plymouth  Colony,  see  Mourt's  Relation 
(Dexter's  ed.,  1865);  Morton's  N ew  England  Memorial;  Young's  Chronicles 
of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  1602-1625;  Arber's  Story  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers. 
The  laws  of  the  colony,  1623-1682,  are  in  the  Plymouth  Colony  Records,  XL 

In  the  name  of  God,  Amen.  We  whose  names  are  underwritten, 
the  loyall  subjects  of  our  dread  soveraigne  Lord,  King  James, 
.  .  .  haveing  undertaken,  for  the  glorie  of  God,  and  advance- 
mente  of  the  Christian  faith,  and  honour  of  our  king  &  countrie, 
a  voyage  to  plant  the  first  colonie  in  the  Northerne  parts  of  Vir 
ginia,  doe  by  these  presents  solemnly  &  mutualy  in  the  presence 
of  God,  and  one  of  another,  covenant  &  combine  our  selves  to- 
geather  into  a  civill  body  politick,  for  our  better  ordering  &  pres 
ervation  &  furtherance  of  the  ends  aforesaid;  and  by  vertue 
hearof  to  enacte,  constitute,  and  frame  such  just  &  equall  lawes, 
ordinances,  acts,  constitutions,  &  offices,  from  time  to  time,  as 
shall  be  thought  most  meete  &  convenient  for  the  generall  good 
of  the  Colonie,  unto  which  we  promise  all  due  submission  and 
obedience.  . 


20  ORDINANCE    FOR   VIRGINIA      July  24 / August  3 


No.  5.     Ordinance  for  Virginia 

July  24/August  3,  1621 

THE  first  assembly  in  Virginia,  and  the  first  representative  assembly  in 
America,  was  convened  July  3o/Aug.  9,  1619,  by  Governor  Yeardley,  under 
authority  of  a  commission  executed  by  the  Virginia  Company  in  November, 
1618;  and  the  ordinance  of  1621,  probably  of  similar  tenor,  granted  to  the 
colony  for  the  future  the  same  form  of  government.  The  model  here  outlined 
was  closely  followed  by  the  later  English  colonies. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Stith's  History  of  Virginia  (Sabin's  ed.,  1865), 
Appendix  IV.  The  records  of  the  assembly  of  1619  are  in  Hening's  Statutes 
at  Large,  I.  The  "Orders  and  Constitutions"  of  1619-1620  are  in  Force's 
Tracts,  III.  See  also  W.  W.  Henry's  First  Legislative  Assembly  in  America, 
in  Report  of  Amer.  Hist.  Assoc.,  1893,  pp.  301-316;  Brown's  First  Republic 
in  America,  308-324. 

An  Ordinance  and  Constitution  of  the  Treasurer,  Council,  and 
Company  in  England,  for  a  Council  of  State  and  General 
Assembly. 

I.  To  all  People,  to  whom  these  Presents  shall  come,  be  seen, 
or  heard,  The  Treasurer,  Council,  and  Company  of  Adventurers 
and  Planters  for  the  city  of  London  for  the  first  Colony  of  Vir 
ginia,   send   Greeting.     KNOW   YE,    that  we  ...  have   thought 
fit  to   make  our  Entrance,   by  ordering  and  establishing  such 
Supreme  Councils,  as  may  not  only  be  assisting  to  the  Governor 
for  the  time  being,  in  the  Administration  of  Justice,  and  the 
Executing  of  other  Duties  to  this  Office  belonging,  but  also,  by 
their  vigilant  Care  and  Prudence,  may  provide,  as  well  for  a 
Remedy  of  all  Inconveniences,  growing  from  time  to  time,  as 
also  for  the  advancing  of  Increase,  Strength,  Stability,  and  Pros 
perity  of   the   said   Colony: 

II.  WE  therefore  ...  by  Authority  directed  to  us  from  his 
Majesty  under  the  Great  Seal,  upon  Mature  Deliberation,  do 
hereby  order  and  declare,  that,  from  hence  forward,  there  shall 
be  Two  SUPREME  COUNCILS  in  Virginia,  for  the  better  Govern 
ment   of   the   said    Colony   aforesaid. 

III.  THE  one  of  which  Councils,  to  be  called  THE  COUNCIL 
OF  STATE  (and  whose  Office  shall  chiefly  be  assisting,  with  their 


i62i]  ORDINANCE   FOR   VIRGINIA  21 

Care,  Advice,  and  Circumspection,  to  the  said  Governor)  shall 
be  chosen,  nominated,  placed,  and  displaced,  from  time  to  time, 
by  Us,  the  said  Treasurer,  Council,  and  Company,  and  our  Suc 
cessors:  Which  Council  of  State  shall  consist,  for  the  present, 
only  of  these  persons,  as  are  here  inserted,  viz.  Sir  Francis  Wyat, 
Governor  of  Virginia,  Captain  Francis  West,  Sir  George  Yeardley, 
Knight,  Sir  William  Neuce,  Knight  Marshal  of  Virginia,  Mr. 
George  Sandys,  Treasurer,  Mr.  George  Thorpe,  Deputy  of  the 
College,  Captain  Thomas  Neuce,  Deputy  for  the  Company,  Mr. 
Pawlet,  Mr.  Leech,  Captain  Nathaniel  Powel,  Mr.  Christopher 
Damson,  Secretary,  Dr.  Pots,  Physician  to  the  Company,  Mr. 
Roger  Smith,  Mr.  John  Berkeley,  Mr.  John  Rolfe,  Mr.  Ralph 
Hamer,  Mr.  John  Pountis,  Mr.  Michael  Lapworth,  Mr.  Harwood, 
Mr.  Samuel  Macock.  Which  said  Counsellors  and  Council  we 
earnestly  pray  and  desire,  and  in  his  Majesty's  Name  strictly 
charge  and  command,  that  (all  Factions,  Partialities,  and  sinister 
Respect  laid  aside  (they  bend  their  Care  and  Endeavours  to  assist 
the  said  Governor;  first  and  principally,  in  the  Advancement  of 
the  Honour  and  Service  of  God,  and  the  Enlargement  of  his 
Kingdom  amongst  the  Heathen  People;  and  next,  in  erecting 
of  the  said  Colony  in  due  Obedience  to  his  Majesty,  and  all  lawful 
Authority  from  his  Majesty's  Directions;  and  lastly,  in  maintain 
ing  the  said  People  in  Justice  and  Christian  Conversation  amongst 
themselves,  and  in  Strength  and  Ability  to  withstand  their  Enemies. 
And  this  Council,  to  be  always,  or  for  the  most  Part,  residing 
about  or  near  the  Governor. 

IV.  THE  other  Council,  more  generally  to  be  called  by  the 
Governor,  once  Yearly,  and  no  oftener,  but  for  very  extraordinary 
and  important  Occasions,  shall  consist,  for  the  present,  of  the 
said  Council  of  State,  and  of  two  Burgesses  out  of  every  Town, 
Hundred,  or  other  particular  Plantation,  to  be  respectively  chosen 
by  the  Inhabitants :  Which  Council  shall  be  called  THE  GENERAL 
ASSEMBLY,  wherein  (as  also  in  the  said  Council  of  State)  all  Mat 
ters  shall  be  decided,  determined,  and  ordered,  by  the  greater 
Part  of  the  Voices  then  present ;  reserving  to  the  Governor  always 
a  Negative  Voice.  And  this  General  Assembly  shall  have  free 
Power  to  treat,  consult,  and  conclude,  as  well  of  all  emergent 
Occasions  concerning  the  Publick  Weal  of  the  said  Colony  and 
every  Part  thereof,  as  also  to  make,  ordain,  and  enact  such  gen- 


22  FIRST  CHARTER  OF  MASSACHUSETTS     [March  4/14 

eral  Laws  and  Orders,  for  the  Behoof  of  the  said  Colony,  and  the 
good  Government  thereof,  as  shall,  from  time  to  time,  appear 
necessary  or  requisite; 

V.  WHEREAS  in  ail  other  Things,  we  require  the  said  General 
Assembly,  as  also  the  said  Council  of  State,  to  imitate  and  follow 
the  Policy  of  the  Form  of  Government,  Laws,  Customs,  and  Man 
ner  of  Trial,  and  other  Administration  of  Justice,  used  in  the 
Realm  of  England,  as  near  as  may  be,  even  as  ourselves,  by  his 
Majesty's  Letters  Patent  are  required. 

VI.  PROVIDED,  that  no  Law  or  Ordinance,  made  in  the  said 
General  Assembly,   shall  be  or  continue  in  Force  or  Validity, 
unless  the  same  shall  be  solemnly  ratified  and  confirmed,  in  a 
General  Quarter  Court  of  the  said  Company  here  in  England, 
and  so  ratified,  be  returned  to  them  under  our  Seal ;   It  being  our 
Intent  to  afford  the  like  Measure  also  unto  the  said  Colony,  that 
after  the  Government  of  the  said  Colony  shall  cnce  have  been 
well  framed,   and  settled  accordingly  .  .  .  and   the   same  shall 
have  been  so  by  us  declared,  no  Orders  of  Court  afterwards  shall 
bind  the  said  Colony,  unless  they  be  ratified  in  like  Manner  in 
the    General   Assemblies. 


No.  6.     First  Charter  of  Massachusetts 

March  4/14,  1628/9 

THE  attempt  of  the  Dorchester  Adventurers  to  establish  a  colony  on  Cape 
Ann,  in  1623,  as  a  base  for  fishing  operations,  failed;  but  there  were  a  few 
scattered  settlements  in  the  region  of  Massachusetts  Bay  when,  March  19/29, 
1627/8,  a  grant  for  a  land  and  trading  company  was  obtained  from  the  Coun 
cil  for  New  England.  The  patent  was  confirmed,  with  the  addition  of  powers 
of  government,  by  the  royal  charter  of  March  4/14,  1628/9.  A  local  govern 
ment,  known  as  "London's  Plantation  in  Massachusetts  Bay  in  New  Eng 
land,"  was  established  at  Salem,  under  the  direction  of  John  Endicott.  In 
1630  the  charter  and  government  of  the  colony  were  transferred  to  America, 
and  the  local  government  under  Endicott  was  discontinued.  The  charter  re 
mained  in  force  until  1684,  when  it  was  annulled  by  writ  of  scire  facias. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Records  of  the  Governor  and  Company  of  the 
Massachusetts  Bay  in  New  England,  I.,  3-19.  The  grant  of  1627/8  is  re 
cited  in  the  charter.  Important  contemporary  documents  and  accounts  are 


1628/9]  FIRST  CHARTER  OF  MASSACHUSETTS  23 

collected  in  Young's  Chronicles  of  Massachusetts.  See  also  Winthrop's  His 
tory  of  New  England  (Savage's  ed.),  I.;  Winthrop's  Life  and  Letters  of  John 
Winthrop,  II.;  Sainsbury's  Calendar  of  State  Papers,  Colonial,  I. 

[The  charter  begins  with  a  recital  of  the  patent  of  1620  to  the 
Council  for  New  England,  and  the  subsequent  grant  by  the  Coun 
cil,  in  March,  1627/8,  to  Sir  Henry  Rosewell  and  others,  which 
last-mentioned  grant  is  by  this  present  charter  confirmed,  and 
continues :] 

AND  FURTHER  knowe  yee,  That  .  .  .  Wee  ...  by  theis  presents 
doe  .  .  .  give  and  graunt  unto  the  said  Sir  Henry  Rosewell,  Sir 
John  Younge,  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall,  Thomas  Southcott,  John 
Humfrey,  John  Endecott,  Symon  Whetcombe,  Isaack  Johnson, 
Samuell  Aldersey,  John  Yen,  Mathewe  Cradock,  George  Har- 
wood,  Increase  Nowell,  Richard  Pery,  Richard  Bellingham, 
Nathaniel  Wright,  Samuell  Vassall,  Theophilus  Eaton,  Thomas 
Goffe,  Thomas  Adams,  John  Browne,  Samuell  Browne,  Thomas 
Hutchins,  William  Vassall,  William  Pinchion,  and  George  Fox- 
crofte,  theire  heires  and  assignes,  All  that  parte  of  Newe  England 
in  America  which  lyes  and  extendes  betweene  a  great  river  there 
commonlie  called  Monomack  river,  alias  Merrimack  river,  and 
a  certen  other  river  there  called  Charles  river,  being  in  the  bot- 
tome  of  a  certen  bay  there  commonlie  called  Massachusetts,  alias 
Mattachusetts,  alias  Massatusetts  bay :  And  also  all  and  singuler 
those  landes  and  hereditaments  whatsoever,  lyeing  within  the 
space  of  three  Englishe  myles  on  the  south  parte  of  the  saide 
river  called  Charles  river,  or  of  any  or  every  parte  thereof:  And 
also  all  and  singuler  the  landes  and  hereditaments  .  .  .  lyeing 
and  being  within  the  space  of  three  Englishe  myles  to  the  south 
ward  of  the  southernmost  parte  of  the  said  baye  called  Massa 
chusetts  .  .  .  :  And  also  all  those  landes  and  hereditaments 
.  .  .  which  lye  and  be  within  the  space  cf  three  English  myles 
to  the  northward  of  the  saide  river  called  Monomack,  alias  Merry- 
mack,  or  to  the  northward  of  any  and  every  parte  thereof,  and 
all  landes  and  hereditaments  .  .  .  lyeing  within  the  lymitts 
aforesaide,  north  and  south,  in  latitude  and  bredth,  and  in  length 
and  longitude,  of  and  within  all  the  bredth  aforesaide,  throughout 
the  mayne  landes  there  from  the  Atlantick  and  wresterne  sea  and 
ocean  on  the  east  parte,  to  the  south  sea  on  the  west  parte :  .  .  . 


24  FIRST  CHARTER  OF  MASSACHUSETTS     [March  4/14 

and  also  all  islandes  in  America  aforesaide,  in  the  saide  seas,  or 
either  of  them,  on  the  westerne  or  easterne  coastes,  or  partes  oi 
the  said  tracts  of  landes  hereby  mentioned  to  be  given  and  graunted 
.  .  . ,  and  free  libertie  of  fishing  in  or  within  any  the  rivers  or 
waters  within  the  boundes  and  lymytts  aforesaid,  and  the  seas 
thereunto  adjoining:  .  .  .  [To  be  held  in  free  and  common 
socage,  and  paying  one  fifth  part  of  all  gold  and  silver  ores.] 
AND  .  .  .  wee  will  and  ordeyne,  That  the  saide  Sir  Henry  Rose- 
well  .  .  .  [and  others]  .  .  .  ,  and  all  such  others  as  shall  here 
after  be  admitted  and  made  free  of  the  Company  and  Society 
hereafter  mentioned,  shall  ...  be  ...  one  body  corporate  and 
politique  in  fact  and  name,  by  the  name  of  the  Governor  and 
Company  of  the  Mattachusetts  Bay  in  Newe  England  .  .  . 
And  wee  doe  hereby  .  .  .  graunte,  That  .  .  .  there  shalbe  one 
Governor,  one  Deputy  Governor,  and  eighteene  Assistants  .  .  . , 
to  be  from  tyme  to  tyme  .  .  .  chosen  out  of  the  freemen  of  the 
saide  Company,  for  the  tyme  being,  in  such  manner  and  forme 
as  hereafter  in  theis  presents  is  expressed.  Which  said  officers 
shall  applie  themselves  to  take  care  for  the  best  disposeing  and 
ordering  of  the  generall  buysines  and  affaires  of  ...  the  saide 
landes  and  premisses  .  .  . ,  and  the  plantacion  thereof,  and  the 
government  of  the  people  there.  And  .  .  .  wee  doe  .  .  .  nomi 
nate  ...  the  saide  Mathewe  Cradocke  to  be  the  first  and  present 
Governor  of  the  said  Company,  and  the  Saide  Thomas  Goffe  to 
be  Deputy  Governor  .  .  .  ,  and  the  said  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall, 
Isaack  Johnson,  Samuell  Aldersey,  John  Ven,  John  Humfrey, 
John  Endecott,  Simon  Whetcombe,  Increase  Noell,  Richard  Pery, 
Nathaniell  Wright,  Samuell  Vassall,  Theophilus  Eaton,  Thomas 
Adams,  Thomas  Hutchins,  John  Browne,  George  Foxcrofte, 
William  Vassall,  and  William  Pinchion  to  be  the  present  Assistants 
.  .  . ,  to  continue  in  the  saide  severall  offices  respectivelie  for  such 
tyme  and  in  such  manner  as  in  and  by  theis  presents  is  hereafter 
declared  and  appointed.  [The  Governor  or  Deputy  Governor 
may  give  order  for  the  assembling  of  the  Company.]  And  that 
the  said  Governor,  Deputie  Governor,  and  Assistants  .  .  .  shall 
or  maie  once  every  moneth,  or  oftener  at  their  pleasures,  assem 
ble,  and  houlde,  and  keepe  a  Courte  or  Assemblie  of  themselves, 
for  the  better  ordering  and  directing  of  their  affaires.  [Seven  or 
more  Assistants,  with  the  Governor  or  Deputy  Governor,  to  be  a 


1628/9]         FIRST  CHARTER  OF  MASSACHUSETTS  25 

sufficient  Court.]  and  that  there  shall  or  maie  be  held  .  .  . , 
upon  every  last  Wednesday  in  Hillary,  Easter,  Trinity,  and  Michas 
termes  respectivelie  for  ever,  one  greate,  generall,  and  solempe 
Assemblie,  which  foure  Generall  Assemblies  shalbe  stiled  and 
called  the  Foure  Greate  and  Generall  Courts  of  the  saide  Com 
pany  :  IN  all  and  every  or  any  of  which  saide  Greate  and  Generall 
Courts  soe  assembled,  WEE  DOE  .  .  .  graunte  .  .  .  That  the  Gov 
ernor,  or,  in  his  absence,  the  Deputie  Governor  .  .  .  and  such 
of  the  Assistants  and  freemen  .  .  .  as  shalbe  present,  or  the  greater 
nomber  of  them  soe  assembled,  whereof  the  Governor  or  Deputie 
Governor  and  six  of  the  Assistants,  at  the  least  to  be  seaven, 
shall,  have  full  power  and  authoritie  to  choose,  nominate,  and 
appointe  such  and  soe  many  'others  as  they  shall  thinke  fitt,  and 
that  shall  be  willing  to  accept  the  same,  to  be  free  of  the  said 
Company  and  Body,  and  them  into  the  same  to  admitt,  and  to 
elect  and  constitute  such  officers  as  they  shall  thinke  fitt  and 
requisite  for  the  ordering,  mannaging,  and  dispatching  of  the 
affaires  of  the  saide  Governor  and  Company.  .  .  .  And  wee 
doe  .  .  .  ordeyne,  That  yearely  once  in  the  yeare  for  ever  here 
after,  namely,  the  last  Wednesday  in  Easter  tearme  yearely,  the 
Governor,  Deputy  Governor,  and  Assistants  .  .  . ,  and  all  other 
officers  of  the  saide  Company,  shalbe,  in  the  Generall  Court  or 
Assembly  to  be  held  for  that  day  or  tyme,  newly  chosen  for  the 
yeare  ensueing  by  such  greater  parte  of  the  said  Company  for  the 
tyme  being,  then  and  there  present,  as  is  aforesaide.  ...  AND 
wee  doe  .  .  .  graunt  .  .  . ,  That  it  shall ...  be  lawfull  to  and  for 
the  Governor  or  Deputie  Governor  and  such  of  the  Assistants  and 
Freemen  of  the  said  Company  ...  as  shalbe  assembled  in  any  of 
their  Generall  Courts  aforesaide,  or  in  any  other  Courtes  to  be 
specially  summoned  and  assembled  for  that  purpose,  or  the  greater 
parte  of  them,  (whereof  the  Governor  or  Deputie  Governor  and 
six  of  the  Assistants,  to  be  alwaies  seaven),  from  tyme  to  tyme  to 
make,  ordeine,  and  establishe  all  manner  of  wholesome  and  rea 
sonable  orders,  lawes,  statutes,  and  ordinances,  directions,  and  in 
structions  not  contrarie  to  the  lawes  of  this  our  realme  of  England, 
aswell  for  setling  of  the  formes  and  ceremonies  of  government 
and  magistracy  fitt  and  necessary  for  the  said  plantation  and  the 
inhabitants  there,  and  for  nameing  and  stiling  of  all  sortes  of 
officers,  both  superior  and  inferior,  which  they  shall  finde  neede- 


26         CHARTER   OF  PRIVILEGES   TO   PATROONS     [June  7/17 

full  for  that  governement  and  plantation,  and  the  distinguishing 
and  setting  forth  of  the  severall  duties,  powers,  and  lymytts  of 
every  such  office  and  place,  and  the  formes  of  such  oathes  war 
rantable  by  the  lawes  and  statutes  of  this  our  realme  of  England 
as  shalbe  respectivelie  ministred  unto  them,  for  the  execution  of 
the  said  severall  offices  and  places,  as  also  for  the  disposing  and 
ordering  of  the  elections  of  such  of  the  said  officers  as  shalbe 
annuall,  and  of  such  others  as  shalbe  to  succeede  in  case  of  death 
or  removeall,  -and  ministring  the  said  oathes  to  the  newe  elected 
officers,  and  for  impositions  of  lawfull  fynes,  mulcts,  imprison 
ment,  or  other  lawfull  correction,  according  to  the  course  of  other 
corporations  in  this  our  realme  of  England,  and  for  the  directing, 
ruling,  and  disposeing  of  all  other  matters  and  thinges  whereby 
our  said  people,  inhabitants  there,  maie  be  soe  religiously,  peace- 
ablie,  and  civilly  governed,  as  their  good  life  and  orderlie  con 
versation  maie  wynn  and  incite  the  natives  of  [that]  country  to 
the  knowledg  and  obedience  of  the  cnlie  true  God  and  Savior  of 
mankinde,  and  the  Christian  fayth,  which,  in  our  royall  intention 
and  the  adventurers  free  profession,  is  the  principall  ende  of  this 
plantation.  .  .  .  PROVIDED  also  .  .  .  ,  That  theis  presents  shall 
not  in  any  manner  enure,  or  be  taken  to  abridge,  barr,  or  hinder 
any  of  our  loving  subjects  whatsoever  to  use  and  exercise  the 
trade  of  fishing  upon  that  coast  of  New  England  in  America  by 
theis  presents  mentioned  to  be  graunted.  .  .  . 


No.  7.     Charter  of  Privileges  to  Patroons 

June  7/17,  1629 

THE  government  of  the  Dutch  West  India  Company,  chartered  in  1621, 
was  vested  in  five  chambers,  or  boards,  established  in  as  many  Dutch  cities, 
with  a  board  of  nineteen  for  the  exercise  of  general  executive  powers.  Of  the 
chambers,  that  of  Amsterdam  was  the  most  important.  The  region  known 
as  New  Netherland  was  not  named  in  the  charter,  but  was  included  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Company.  On  the  final  organization  of  the  Company 
under  the  charter,  in  1623,  New  Netherland  was  made  a  province,  and  placed 
under  the  immediate  control  of  the  Amsterdam  chamber.  The  continued 
unprofitableness,  however,  of  the  trade  of  New  Netherland,  except  the  fur 
trade,  led  to  a  change  of  policy ;  and  the  Charter  of  Privileges  to  patroons, 
drafted  in  March,  1628,  but  not  adopted  by  the  board  of  nineteen  until  June, 


1629]          CHARTER   OF   PRIVILEGES  TO   PATROONS  27 

1629,  was  intended  to  encourage  private  individuals  to  establish  settlements 
at  various  points  on  the  Hudson  and  Delaware,  or  North  and  South,  rivers. 
Numerous  grievances,  occasioned  by  friction  between  the  patroons  and  the 
Company,  were  partially  allayed  by  a  new  charter  in  1640,  restricting  the  area 
of  the  grants,  and  encouraging  independent  settlement;  but  the  feudal  privi 
leges  of  the  patroons  were  not  interfered  with.  "Many  of  the  old  patroon 
estates  long  remained  undivided,  and  the  heirs  of  the  founders  claimed  some 
semi-feudal  privileges  well  into  the  nineteenth  century." 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Documents  relative  to  the  Colonial  History  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  II.,  553-557.  On  the  Dutch  West  India  Company,  see 
O'Callaghan's  History  of  New  Netherland;  the  charter  of  1621  is  in  Hazard's 
Historical  Collections,  I.,  121-131. 

FREEDOMS   AND   EXEMPTIONS 

GRANTED  BY  THE  BOARD  OF  THE  NINETEEN  OF  THE  INCORPO 
RATED  WEST  INDIA  COMPANY,  TO  ALL  PATROONS,  MASTERS 
OR  PRIVATE  PERSONS  WHO  WILL  PLANT  COLONIES  IN  NEW 
NETHERLAND 

******** 

III.  All  such  shall  be  acknowledged  Patroons  of  New  Nether- 
land  who  shall,  within  the  space  of  four  years,  next  after  they 
have  given  notice  to  any  of  the  Chambers  of  the  Company  here, 
or  to  the  Commander  or  Council  there,  undertake  to  plant  a  Colo- 
nie  there  of  fifty  souls,  upwards  of  fifteen  years  old;  one-fourth 
part  within  one  year,  and  within  three  years  after  the  sending  of 
the  first,  making  together  four  years,  the  remainder,  to  the  full 
number  of  fifty  persons  .  .  .  ;  but  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the 

Company  reserve  the  Island  of  the  Manhattes  to  themselves. 
******** 

V.  The  Patroons,  by  virtue  of  their  power,  shall  and  may  be 
permitted,  at  such  places  as  they  shall  settle  their  Colonies,  to 
extend  their  limits  four  leagues  along  the  shore,  that  is,  on  one 
side  of  a  navigable  river,  or  two  leagues  on  each  side  of  a  'river, 
and  so  far  into  the  country  as  the  situation  of  the  occupiers  will 
permit;  provided  and  conditioned  that  the  Company  keep  to 
themselves  the  lands  lying  and  remaining  between  the  limits  of 
Colonies,  to  dispose  thereof,  when  and  at  such  time  as  they  shall 
think  proper,  in  such  manner  that  no  person  shall  be  allowed  to 
come  within  seven  or  eight  leagues  of  them  without  their  consent, 
unless  the  situation  of  the  land  thereabout  be  such  that  the  Com- 


28          CHARTER   OF   PRIVILEGES  TO   PATROONS    [June  7/1) 

mander  and  Council,  for  good  reasons,  should  order  otherwise 
.  .  .  ;  the  command  of  each  bay,  river  or  island,  of  the  first  settled 
Colonie,  remaining,  moreover,  under  the  supreme  jurisdiction  of 
their  High  Mightinesses  the  States-General  and  the  Company.  .  .  . 
VI.  They  shall  forever  possess  and  enjoy  all  the  lands  lying 
within  the  aforesaid  limits,  together  with  the  fruits,  rights,  min 
erals,  rivers  and  fountains  thereof;  as  also  the  chief  command 
and  lower  jurisdictions,  fishing,  fowling  and  grinding,  to  the  ex 
clusion  of  all  others,  to  be  holden  from  the  Company  as  a  per 
petual  inheritance,  without  it  ever  devolving  again  to  the  Company, 
and  in  case  it  should  devolve,  to  be  redeemed  and  repossessed 
with  twenty  guilders  per  Colonie,  to  be  paid  to  this  Company,  at 
the  Chamber  here  or  to  their  Commander  there,  within  a  year  and 
six  weeks  after  the  same  occurs,  each  at  the  Chamber  where  he 
originally  sailed  from ;  and  further,  no  person  or  persons  whatso 
ever  shall  be  privileged  to  fish  and  hunt  but  the  Patroons  and  such 
as  they  shall  permit.  And  in  case  any  one  should  in  time  prosper 
so  much  as  to  found  one  or  more  cities,  he  shall  have  power  and 
authority  to  establish  officers  and  magistrates  there,  and  to  make 
use  of  the  title  of  his  Colonie,  according  to  his  pleasure  and  to 
the  quality  of  the  persons. 

******** 

X.  The  Patroons  and  colonists  shall  be  privileged  to  send  their 
people  and  effects  thither,  in  ships  belonging  to  the  Company, 
provided  they  take  the  oath,  and  pay  to  the  Company  for  bring 
ing  over  the  people,  as  mentioned  in  the  first  article  and  for 
freight  of  the  goods,  five  per  cent,  ready  money,  to  be  reckoned 
on  the  prime  cost  of  the  goods  here,  in  which  is,  however,  not 
to  be  included  such  cattle  and  implements  as  are  necessary  for 
the  cultivation  and  improvement  of  the  lands,  which  the  Com 
pany  are  to  carry  over  without  any  reward,  if  there  is  room  in 
their  ships.  .  .  . 

******** 

XII.  Inasmuch  as  it  is  intended  to  people  the  Island  of  the 
Manhattes  first,  all  fruits  and  wares  that  are  produced  on  the  lands 
situate  on  the  North  river,  and  lying  thereabout,  shall,  for  the 
present,  be  brought  there  before  being  sent  elsewhere,  excepting 
such  as  are,  from  their  nature,  unnecessary  there,  or  such  as  can 
not,  without  great  loss  to  the  owner  thereof,  be  brought  there,  in 


1629]          CHARTER   OF   PRIVILEGES   TO   PATROONS  2$ 

which  case  the  owners  thereof  shall  be  obliged  to  give  timelj 
notice  in  writing  of  the  difficulty  attending  the  same  to  the  Com 
pany  here,  or  the  Commander  and  Council  there,  that  the  same 
may  be  remedied  as  the  necessity  thereof  shall  be  found  to  re 
quire. 

XIII.  All  the  Patroons  of  Colonies  in  New  Netherland,  and 
of  Colonies  on  the  Island  of  Manhattes,  shall  be  at  liberty  to  sail 
and  traffic  all  along  the  coast,  from  Florida  to  Terra  Neuf,  pro 
vided  that  they  do  again  return  with  all  such  goods  as  they  shall 
get  in  trade  to  the  Island  of  Manhattes,  and  pay  five  per  cent 
duty  to  the  Company,  in  order,  if  possible,  that,  after  the  neces 
sary  inventory  of  the  goods  shipped  be  taken,  the  same  may  be 
sent  hither.  And  if  it  should  so  happen  that  they  could  not 
return,  by  contrary  streams  or  otherwise,  they  shall,  in  such  case, 
not  be  permitted  to  bring  such  goods  to  any  other  place  but  to 
these  dominions,  in  order  that,  under  the  inspection  of  the  Di 
rectors  of  the  place  where  they  may  arrive,  they  may  be  unladen, 
an  inventory  thereof  made,  and  the  aforesaid  duty  of  five  per 
cent  paid  to  the  Company  here,  on  pain,  if  they  do  the  contrary, 
of  the  forfeiture  of  their  goods  so  trafficked  for,  or  the  real  value 
thereof. 

******** 

XV.  It  shall  be  also  free  for  the  aforesaid  Patroons  to  traffic 
and  trade  all  along  the  coast  of  New  Netherland  and  places  cir 
cumjacent,  with  such  goods  as  are  consumed  there,  and  receive 
in  return  for  them  all  sorts  of  merchandise  that  may  be  had  there, 
except  beavers,  otters,  minks,  and  all  sorts  of  peltry,  which  trade 
the  Company  reserve  to  themselves.     But  the  same  shall  be  per 
mitted  at  such  places  where  the  Company  have  no  factories,  con 
ditioned  that  such  traders  shall  be  obliged  to  bring  all  the  peltry 
they  can  procure  to  the  Island  of  Manhattes,  in  case  it  may  be, 
at  any  rate,  practicable,  and  there  deliver  to  the  Director,  to  be 
by  him  shipped  hither  with  the  ships  and  goods;    or,  if  they 
should  come  here  without  going  there,  then  to  give  notice  thereof 
to  the  Company,  that  a  proper  account  thereof  may  be  taken,  in 
order  that  they  may  pay  to  the  Company  one  guilder  for  each 
merchantable  beaver  and  otter  skin;    the  property,  risk  and  all 
other  charges  remaining  on  account  of  the  Patroons  or  owners. 

XVI.  All  coarse  wares  that  the  Colonists  of  the  Patroons  there 


30          CHARTER   OF   PRIVILEGES   TO   PATROONS     [June  j/ 1} 

shall  consume,  such  as  pitch,  tar,  weed-ashes,  wood,  grain,  fish, 
salt,  hearthstone  and  such  like  things  shall  be  conveyed  in  the 
Company's  ships,  at  the  rate  of  eighteen  guilders  per  last.  .  .  . 

XVII.  For  all  wares  which  are  not  mentioned  in  the  foregoing 
article,  and  which  are  not  carried  by  the  last,  there  shall  be  paid 
one   dollar  for  each   hundred   pounds  weight;    and   for  wines, 
brandies,    verjuice   and   vinegar,    there   shall   be   paid   eighteen 
guilders  per  cask. 

XVIII.  The  Company  promises  the  colonists  of  the  Patroons 
that  they  shall  be  free  from  customs,  taxes,  excise,  imposts  or 
any  other  contributions  for  the  space  of  ten  years;   and  after  the 
expiration  of  the  said  ten  years,  at  the  highest,  such  customs  as 
the  goods  pay  here  for  the  present. 

******** 

XXIII.  Whosoever,   whether  colonists  of  Patroons  for  their 
Patroons,  or  free  persons  for  themselves,  or  others  for  their  mas 
ters,  shall  discover  any  shores,  bays  or  other  fit  places  for  erecting 
fisheries,  or  the  making  of  salt  ponds,  they  may  take  possession 
thereof,  and  begin  to  work  on  them  as  their  own  absolute  prop 
erty,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  others.     And  it  is  consented  to  that 
the  Patroons  of  colonists  may  send  ships  along  the  coast  of  New 
Netherland,  on  the  cod  fishery,  and  with  the  fish  they  catch, 
trade  to  Italy  or  other  neutral  countries,  paying  in  such  cases  to 
the  Company  a  duty  of  six  guilders  per  last ;    and  if  they  should 
come  with  their  lading  hither,  they  shall  be  at  liberty  to  proceed 
to  Italy,  though  they  shall  not,  under  pretext  of  this  consent,  or 
leave  from  the  Company,  carry  any  goods  there,  on  pain  of  arbi 
trary  punishment.  .  .  . 

XXIV.  In  case  any  of  the  colonists  should,  by  his  industry  and 
diligence,  discover  any  minerals,  precious  stones,  crystals,  mar 
bles  or  such  like,  or  any  pearl  fishery,  the  same  shall  be  and 
remain  the  property  of  the  Patroon  or  Patroons  of  such  Colonie, 
giving  and  ordering  the  discoverer  such  premium  as  the  Patroon 
shall  beforehand  have  stipulated  wTith  such  colonist  by  contract. 
And  the  Patroons  shall  be  exempt  from  the  payment  of  duty  to 
the  Company  for  the  term  of  eight  years,  and  pay  only  for  freight, 
to  bring  them  over,  two  per  cent,  and  after  the  expiration  of  the 
aforesaid  eight  years,  for  duty  and  freight,  the  one-eighth  part  of 
what  the  same  may  be  worth. 


1629]  CHARTER  OF  MARYLAND  31 


XXVII.  The  Patroons  and  colonists  shall  in  particular,  and  in 
the  speediest  manner,  endeavor  to  find  out  ways  and  means 
whereby  they  may  support  a  Minister  and  Schoolmaster,  that  thus 
the  service  of  God  and  zeal  for  religion  may  not  grow  cool  and 
be  neglected  among  them,  and  they  shall,  for  the  first,  procure 
a  Comforter  of  the  sick  there. 

******** 

XXIX.  The   Colonists  shall   not  be   permitted   to   make  any 
woolen,  linen  or  cotton  cloth,  nor  weave  any  other  stuffs  there, 
on  pain  of  being  banished,  and  as  perjurers,  to  be  arbitrarily 
punished. 

XXX.  The  Company  will  use  their  endeavors  to  supply  the 
colonists  with  as  many  Blacks  as  they  conveniently  can,  on  the 
conditions  hereafter  to  be  made,  in  such  manner,  however,  that 
they  shall  not  be  bound  to  do  it  for  a  longer  time  than  they  shall 
think  proper. 

XXXI.  The  Company  promise  to  finish  the  fort  on  the  Island 
of  the  Manhattes,  and  to  put  it  in  a  posture  of  defence  without 
delay. 


No.  8.     Charter  of  Maryland 

June  20/30,  1632 

GEORGE  CALVERT,  first  Lord  Baltimore,  had  been  a  member  of  the  Vir 
ginia  Company,  and,  as  one  of  the  two  principal  secretaries  of  state,  was  a 
member  of  the  Committee  of  the  Council  for  Plantation  Affairs.  In  1620  he 
purchased  a  tract  of  land  in  Newfoundland,  for  which,  under  the  name  of 
Avalon,  he  obtained  from  James  I.,  in  1623,  a  patent  as  proprietor.  He  vis 
ited  his  province  in  1627,  with  the  intention  of  remaining;  but  the  advantages 
of  the  region  had  been  exaggerated,  and  the  climate  was  such  as  to  discourage 
colonization.  In  1629  he  went  to  Virginia,  but  was  obliged  to  leave  on  his 
refusal,  as  a  Catholic,  to  take  the  oaths  of  allegiance  and  supremacy.  Re 
turning  to  England,  he  obtained  from  Charles  I.  a  grant  of  land  north  of  the 
Potomac.  Baltimore  died  shortly  before  the  patent  passed  the  seals,  and  the 
charter  was  issued  to  his  son,  Cecil,  second  Lord  Baltimore,  June  20/30,  1632. 
The  region  granted  to  Baltimore  had  been  included  in  the  Virginia  grant  of 
1609;  but  the  revocation  of  the  third  charter  in  1624  had  left  Virginia  a  royal 
province,  with  its  unsettled  portions  subject  to  allotment  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
king.  Former  members  of  the  Virginia  Company  protested  against  the  grant; 


32  CHARTER   OF   MARYLAND  [June  20/30 

but  the  protest  was  ineffectual,  and  Virginia  was  directed  to  befriend  the  new 
colony. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text,  Latin  and  English,  in  Bacon's  Laws  of  Maryland. 
The  early  legislation  of  the  colony  may  be  followed  in  Bacon,  and  in  Mary 
land  Archives,  I.  See  also  Sainsbury's  Calendar  of  State  Papers,  Colonial,  I. 

CHARLES  .  .  .  [&c.]  .  .  . 

II.  WHEREAS  our  well  beloved  and  right  trusty  Subject  C^E- 
CILIUS  CALVERT,  Baron  of  BALTIMORE,  in  our  Kingdom 
of  Ireland,  Son  and  Heir  of  GEORGE  CALVERT,  Knight,  late  Baron 
of  BALTIMORE,  in  our  said  Kingdom  of  Ireland,  treading  in  the 
Steps  of  his  Father,  being  animated  with  a  laudable,  and  pious 
Zeal  for  extending  the  Christian  Religion,  and  also  the  Territories 
of  our  Empire,  hath  humbly  besought  Leave  of  Us,  that  he  may 
transport,  by  his  own  Industry,  and  Expence,  a  numerous  Colony 
of  the  English  Nation,  to  a  certain  Region,  herein  after  described, 
in  a  Country  hitherto  uncultivated,  in  the  Parts  of  America,  and 
partly  occupied  by  Savages,  having  no  Knowledge  of  the  Divine 
Being,  and  that  all  that  Region,  with  some  certain  Privileges, 
and    Jurisdictions,    appertaining    unto    the    wholesome    Govern 
ment,  and  State  of  his  Colony  and  Region  aforesaid,  may  by  our 
Royal  Highness  be  given,  granted,  and  confirmed  unto  him,  and 
his  Heirs. 

III.  KNOW  YE  therefore,  that  WE  ...  by  this  our  present 
CHARTER  ...  do  GIVE,  GRANT,  and  CONFIRM,  unto  the  afore 
said  C^CILIUS,  now  Baron  of  BALTIMORE,  his  Heirs,  and 
Assigns,  all  that  Part  of  the  Peninsula,  or  Chersonese,  lying  in  the 
Parts  of  America,  between  the  Ocean  on  the  East,  and  the  Bay  of 
Chesopeake  on  the  West,  divided  from  the  Residue  thereof  by  a 
Right  Line  drawn  from  the  Promontory,  or  Head-Land,  called 
Walkings  Point,  situate  upon  the  Bay  aforesaid,  near  the  River  of 
Wighco,  on  the  West,  unto  the  Main  Ocean  on  the  East ;  and  be 
tween  that  Boundary  on  the  South,  unto  that  Part  of  the  Bay  of 
Delaware  on  the  North,  which  lyeth  under  the  Fortieth  Degree  of 
North  Latitude  from  the  ^Equinoctial,  where  New-England  is 
terminated.    And  all  the  Tract  of  that  Land  within  the  Metes 
underwritten  (that  is  to  say)  passing  from  the  said  Bay,  called 
Delaware  Bay,  in  a  right  Line,  by  the  Degree  aforesaid,  unto 
the  true  Meridian  of  the  first  Fountain  of  the  River  of  Pattow- 
mack,  thence  verging  towards  the  South,  unto  the  further  Bank 


1632]  CHARTER  OF  MARYLAND  33 

of  the  said  River,  and  following  the  same  on  the  West  and  South, 
unto  a  certain  Place  called  Cinquack,  situate  near  the  Mouth  of 
the  said  River,  where  it  disembogues  into  the  aforesaid  Bay  of 
Chesapeake,  and  thence  by  the  shortest  Line  unto  the  aforesaid 
Promontory,  or  Place,  called  Watkin's  Point;  so  that  the  whole 
Tract  of  Land,  divided  by  the  Line  aforesaid,  between  the  Main 
Ocean,  and  Walkings  Point,  unto  the  Promontory  called  Cape- 
Charles,  and  every  the  Appendages  thereof,  may  entirely  remain 
excepted  for  ever  to  US,  our  Heirs,  and  Successors. 

IV.  Also  WE  do  GRANT  .  .  .  unto  the  said  Baron  of  BALTI 
MORE  ...  all  Islands  and  Islets  within  the  Limits  aforesaid, 
all  and  singular  the  Islands  and  Islets,  from  the  Eastern  Shore 
of  the  aforesaid  Region,  towards  the  East,  which  have  been,  or 
shall  be  formed  in  the  Sea,  situate  within  Ten  marine  Leagues 
from  the  said  Shore;  .  .  .  And  further  more  the  PATRONAGES, 
and  ADVOWSONS  of  all  Churches  which  (with  the  increasing  Wor 
ship  and  Religion  of    CHRIST)  within  the  said  Region  .  .  .  , 
hereafter  shall  happen  to  be  built,  together  with  Licence  and 
Faculty  of  erecting  and  founding  Churches,  Chapels,  and  Places 
of  Worship,  in  convenient  and  suitable  Places,  within  the  Premises, 
and  of  causing  the  same  to  be  dedicated  and  consecrated  accord 
ing  to  the  Ecclesiastical  Laws  of  our  Kingdom  of  England,  with 
all,  and  singular  such,  and  as  ample  Rights,  Jurisdictions,  Privi 
leges,  Prerogatives,  Royalties,   Liberties,  Immunities,  and  royal 
Rights,  and  temporal  Franchises  whatsoever,  as  well  by  Sea  as 
by  Land,  within  the  Region  .  .  .  aforesaid,  to  be  had,  exercised, 
used,  and  enjoyed,  as  any  Bishop  of  Durham,  within  the  Bishop- 
rick  or  County  Palatine  of  Durham,  in  our  Kingdom  of  England, 
ever  heretofore  hath  had,   held,  used,  or  enjoyed,  or  of  Right 
could,  or  ought  to  have,  hold,  use,  or  enjoy. 

V.  And  WE  do  by  these  Presents  .  .  .  MAKE,  CREATE  and  CON 
STITUTE  HIM,  the  now  Baron  of  BALTIMORE,  and  his  Heirs, 
the  TRUE  and  ABSOLUTE  LORDS  and  PROPRIETARIES  of  the  Region 
aforesaid,  and  of  all  other  the  Premises  (except  the  before  ex 
cepted)  saving  always  the  Faith  and  Allegiance  and  Sovereign 
Dominion  due  to  US  .  .  .  ;    TO  HOLD  of   US  ...  as  of  our 
Castle  of  Windsor,  in  our  County  of  Berks,  in  free  and  common 
SOCCAGE,  by  Fealty  only  for  all  Services,  and  not  in  capite,  nor 
by  Knight's  SERVICE,  YIELDING  therefore  unto  US  ...  two 


34  CHARTER   OF   MARYLAND  [June  20/34 

INDIAN  ARROWS  of  those  Parts,  to  be  delivered  at  the  said  Castle 
of  Windsor,  every  Year,  on  Tuesday  in  Easter- Week:  And  also 
the  fifth  Part  of  all  Gold  and  Silver  Ore,  which  shall  happen 
from  Time  to  Time,  to  be  found  within  the  aforesaid  limits. 

VI.  Now,  That  the  aforesaid  Region,  thus  by  us  granted  and 
described,  may  be  eminently  distinguished  above  all  other  Re 
gions  of  that  Territory,  and  decorated  with  more  ample  Titles, 
KNOW   YE,  that  .  .  .  WE  do  ...  ERECT  and   INCORPORATE 
the  same  into  a  PROVINCE,  and  nominate  the  same  MARY 
LAND.  .  .  . 

VII.  And  forasmuch  as  WE  have  above  made  and  ordained 
the  aforesaid  now  Baron  of  BALTIMORE,  the  true  LORD  and 
Proprietary  of  the  whole  PROVINCE  aforesaid,  .  .  .  WE  ...  do 
grant  unto  the  said  now  Baron  .  .  .  and  to  his  Heirs,  for  the 
good  and  happy  Government  of  the  said  PROVINCE,  free,  full, 
and  absolute  Power,  by  the  tenor  of  these  Presents,  to  Ordain, 
Make,  and  Enact  LAWS,  of  what  kind  soever,  according  to  their 
sound  Discretions,  whether  relating  to  the  Public  State  of  the 
said  PROVINCE,  or  the  private  Utility  of  Individuals,  of  and  with 
the  Advice,  Assent,  and  Approbation  of  the  Free-Men  of  the  same 
PROVINCE,  or  of  the  greater  Part  of  them,  or  of  their  Delegates  or 
Deputies,  whom  WE  will  shall  be  called  together  for  the  framing 
of  LAWS,  when,  and  as  often  as  Need  shall  require,  by  the  afore 
said  nowr  Baron  of  BALTIMORE  .  .  .  ,  and  in  the  Form  \vhich 
shall  seem  best  to  him  or  them,  and  the  same  to  publish  under 
the  Seal  of  the  aforesaid  now  Baron  of  BALTIMORE  .  .  .  and 
duly  to  execute  the  same  upon  all  Persons,  for  the  Time  being, 
within  the  aforesaid  PROVINCE,  and  the  Limits  thereof,  or  under 
his  or  their  Government  and  Power,  in  Sailing  towards  MARY 
LAND,  or  thence  Returning,   Outward-bound,   either  to  Eng 
land,  or  elsewhere,  whether  to  any  other  Part  of  Our,  or  of  any 
foreign  Dominions,  wheresoever  established,  by  the  Imposition 
of  Fines,  Imprisonment,  and  other  Punishment  \vhatsoever;   even 
if  it  be  necessary,  and  the  Quality  cf  the  Offence  require  it,  by 
Privation  of  Member,  or  Life  ...  So  NEVERTHELESS,  that  the 
Laws  aforesaid  be  consonant  to  Reason  and  be  not  repugnant  or 
contrary,  but  (so  far  as  conveniently  may  be)  agreeable  to  the  Laws 
Statutes,  Customs  and  Rights  of  this  Our  Kingdom  of  England. 


1632]  CHARTER  OF  MARYLAND  35 

XVIII.  AND  FURTHERMORE    .   .   .    WE   ...   do   give   ... 
unto  the  aforesaid  now  Baron  of  BALTIMORE  .  .  .  full  and 
absolute  Licence,  Power,  and  Authority  .  .  .  [to]  assign,  alien, 
grant,  demise,  or  enfeoff  so  many,  such,  and  proportionate  Parts 
and  Parcels  of  the  Premises,  to  any  Person  or  Persons  willing  to 
purchase  the  same,  as  they  shall  think  convenient,  to  have  and  to 
hold  ...  in  Fee-simple,  or  Fee-tail,  or  for  Term  of  Life,  Lives, 
or  Years;   to  hold  of  the  aforesaid  now  Baron  of  BALTIMORE 
...  by  ...  such  .  .  .  Services,  Customs  and  Rents  OF  THIS 
KIND,  as  to  the  same  now  Baron  of  BALTIMORE  .  .  .  shall 
seem  fit  and  agreeable,  and  not  immediately  of  US.  .  .  . 

XIX.  WE  also  ...  do  ...  grant  Licence  to  the  same  Baron 
of  BALTIMORE  ...  to  erect  any  Parcels  of  Land  within  the 
PROVINCE  aforesaid,  into  Manors,  and  in  every  of  those  Manors, 
to  have  and  to  hold  a  Court-Baron,  and  all  Things  which  to  a 
Court-Baron  do  belong;  and  to  have  and  to  keep  View  of  Frank- 
Pledge,  for  the  Conservation  of  the  Peace  and  better  Govern 
ment  of  those  Parts,  by  themselves  and  their  Stewards,  or  by 
the  Lords,  for  the  Time  being  to  be  deputed,  of  other  of  those 
Manors  when  they  shall  be  constituted,  and  in  the  same  to  exer 
cise  all  Things  to  the  View  of  Frank-Pledge  belonging. 

******** 

XXI.  AND  FURTHERMORE  \VE  WILL  .  .  .  that  the  said  PROV 
INCE,  and  the  Freeholders  or  Inhabitants  ...  of  the  said  Colony 
or  Country,  shall  not  henceforth  be  held  or  reputed  a  Member  or 
Part  of  the  Land  of  Virginia,  or  of  any  other  Colony  already 
transported,  or  hereafter  to  be  transported,  or  be  dependent  on 
the  same,  or  subordinate  in  any  kind  of  Government,  from  which 
WE  do  separate  both  the  said  PROVINCE,  and  Inhabitants  thereof, 
and  by  these  Presents  do  WILL  to  be  distinct,  and  that  they  may 
be  immediately  subject  to  our  Crowrn  of  England,  and  dependent 
on  the  same  for  ever. 

XXII.  [The  charter  to  be  construed  in  favor  of  Baltimore]: 
PROVIDED  always,  that  no  Interpretation  thereof  be  made,  whereby 
GOD'S  holy  and  true  Christian  Religion,  or  the  Allegiance  due 
to  US  .  .  .  ,  may  in  any  wrise  surfer  by  Change,  Prejudice,  01 
Diminution,  ,  ,  , 


36     FUNDAMENTAL   ORDERS    OF   CONNECTICUT     [Jan.  14/24 

No.  g.     Fundamental  Orders  of  Connecticut 

January  14/24,  1638/9 

THE  region  of  the  Connecticut  valley,  originally  included  within  the  grant 
of  1620  to  the  Council  for  New  England,  became  the  subject  of  rival  claims 
on  the  part  of  New  Netherland,  Massachusetts,  and  Plymouth.  A  patent  for 
the  territory  west  of  the  Narragansett  River,  given  in  March,  1631/2,  by  the 
Earl  of  Warwick,  president  of  the  Council  for  New  England,  to  Lord  Say 
and  Sele,  Lord  Brook,  and  others,  remained  unused  until  1635,  when  John 
Winthrop,  the  younger,  arrived  with  a  commission  as  governor,  and  built  a 
fort  at  Say  brook,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Connecticut.  The  Dutch  had  already 
built  a  fort  at  Hartford,  and  in  1633  traders  from  Plymouth  had  established  a 
post  at  Windsor.  In  the  meantime,  Massachusetts  traders  had  explored  the 
overland  route  from  that  colony,  and  their  favorable  reports  encouraged  the 
plan,  already  under  consideration  by  inhabitants  of  Dorchester,  Watertown, 
and  Newtown  (Cambridge),  to  remove  to  a  region  where  greater  religious  and 
political  freedom,  as  well  as  opportunity  for  material  betterment,  could  be 
enjoyed.  The  plan  of  emigration,  defeated  in  1634,  was  approved  by  Massa 
chusetts  the  next  year,  and  a  commission  of  government  was  granted  by  the 
General  Court.  In  1635-1636,  settlements  were  planted  at  Windsor,  Weth- 
ersfield,  and  Hartford.  In  1637  the  three  towns  assumed  the  control  of  their 
1  own  affairs,  and  in  January,  1638/9,  drew  up  the  constitution  known  as  the 
(  Fundamental  Orders  of  Connecticut  —  "the  first  written  constitution  known 
'  to  history  that  created  a  government." 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Connecticut  Colonial  Records,  I.,  20-25.  War 
wick's  patent  of  1631,  and  Winthrop's  commission,  are  in  Trumbull's  His 
tory  of  Connecticut  (ed.  1797),  I.,  525-528. 

Forasmuch  as  it  hath  pleased  the  Allmighty  God  by  the  wise 
disposition  of  his  divyne  providence  so  to  Order  and  dispose  of 
things  that  we  the  Inhabitants  and  Residents  of  Windsor,  Harte- 
ford  and  Wethersneld  are  now  cohabiting  and  dwelling  in  and 
uppon  the  River  of  Conectecotte  and  the  Lands  thereunto  adjoyne- 
ing;  And  well  knowing  where  a  people  are  gathered  togather  the 
word  of  God  requires  that  to  mayntayne  the  peace  and  union  of 
such  a  people  there  should  be  an  orderly  and  decent  Goverment 
established  according  to  God,  to  order  and  dispose  of  the  affayres 
of  the  people  at  all  seasons  as  occation  shall  require;  doe  there 
fore  assotiate  and  conjoyne  our  selves  to  be  as  one  Publike  State 
or  Commonwelth;  and  doe,  for  our  selves  and  our  Successors  and 
such  as  shall  be  adjoyned  to  us  att  any  tyme  hereafter,  enter  into 


1638/9]     FUNDAMENTAL   ORDERS   OF   CONNECTICUT  37 

Combination  and  Confederation  togather,  to  mavntayne  and  pre- 
searve  the  liberty  and  purity  of  the  gospell  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
which  we  now  professe,  as  also  the  disciplyne  of  the  Churches, 
which  according  to  the  truth  of  the  said  gospell  is  now  practised 
amongst  us;  As  also  in  our  Civell  Affaires  to  be  guided  and  gov 
erned  according  to  such  Lawes,  Rules,  Orders  and  decrees  as 
shall  be  made,  ordered  &  decreed,  as  followeth :  — 

i.  It  is  Ordered  .  .  .  that  there  shall  be  yerely  two  generall 
Assemblies  or  Courts,  the  on  [one]  the  second  thursday  in  Aprill, 
the  other  the  second  thursday  in  September,  following;  the  first 
shall  be  called  the  Courte  of  Election,  wherein  shall  be  yerely 
Chosen  .  .  .  soe  many  Magestrats  and  other  publike  Officers 
as  shall  be  found  requisitte :  Whereof  one  to  be  chosen  Governour 
for  the  yeare  ensueing  and  untill  another  be  chosen,  and  noe 
other  Magestrate  to  be  chosen  for  more  than  one  yeare;  provided 
allwayes  there  be  sixe  chosen  besids  the  Governour;  which  being 
chosen  and  sworne  according  to  an  Oath  recorded  for  that  pur 
pose  shall  have  power  to  administer  justice  according  to  the  Lawes 
here  established,  and  for  want  thereof  according  to  the  rule  of  the 
word  of  God;  which  choise  shall  be  made  by  all  that  are  admitted 
freemen  and  have  taken  the  Oath  of  Fidellity,  and  doe  cohabitte 
within  this  Jurisdiction,  (having  beene  admitted  Inhabitants 
by  the  major  part  of  the  Towne  wherein  they  live,)  or  the  mayor 

parte  of  such  as  shall  be  then  present. 

#*###### 

3.  It  is  Ordered  .  .  .  that  the  Secretary  shall  not  nominate 
any  person,  nor  shall  any  person  be  chosen  newly  into  the  Mages- 
tracy  which  was  not  propownded  in  some  Generall  Courte  before, 
to  be  nominated  the  next  Election;    and  to  that  end  yt  shall  be 
lawfull  for  ech  of  the  Townes  aforesaid  by  their  deputyes  to 
nominate  any  two  whom  they  conceave  fitte  to  be  put  to  Election ; 
and  the  Courte  may  ad  so  many  more  as  they  judge  requisitt. 

4.  It  is   Ordered  .  .  .  that  noe  person   be  chosen   Governor 
above  once  in  two  yeares,  and  that  the   Governor  be  alwayes 
a  member  of  some  approved  congregation,  and  formerly  of  the 
Magestracy   within    this    Jurisdiction;     and   all    the    Magestrats 
Freemen  of  this  Commonwelth :  and  that  no  Magestrate  or  other 
publike  officer  shall  execute  any  parte  of  his  or  their  Office  before 
they  are  severally  sworne.  .  .  . 


38     FUNDAMENTAL   ORDERS    OF   CONNECTICUT     [Jan.  14/24 

5.  It  is  Ordered  .  .  .  that  to  the  aforesaid  Courte  of  Election 
the  severall  Townes  shall  send  their  deputyes,  and  when  the 
Elections  are  ended  they  may  proceed  in  any  publike  searvice 
as  at  other  Courts.  Also  the  other  Generall  Courte  in  September 
shall  be  for  makeing  of  lawes,  and  any  other  publike  occation, 
which  conserns  the  good  of  the  Commonwelth. 

******** 

8.  It  is  Ordered  .  .  .  that  Wyndsor,  Hartford  and  Wethers- 
field  shall  have  power,  ech  Towne,  to  send  fower  of  their  freemen 
as   their  deputyes   to   every   Generall   Courte;    and   whatsoever 
other  Townes  shall  be  hereafter  added  to  this  Jurisdiction,  they 
shall  send  so  many  deputyes  as  the  Courte  shall  judge  meete, 
a  resonable  proportion  to  the  number  of  Freemen  that  are  in  the 
said  Townes  being  to  be  attended  therein;   which  deputyes  shall 
have  the  power  of  the  whole  Towne  to  give  their  voats  and  alow- 
ance  to  all  such  lawes  and  orders  as  may  be  for  the  publike  good, 
and  unto  which  the  said  Townes  are  to  be  bownd. 

9.  It  is  ordered  .  .  .  that  the  deputyes  thus  chosen  shall  have 
power  and  liberty  to  appoynt  a  tyme  and  a  place  of  meeting  to 
ga  ther  before  any  Generall  Courte  to  advise  and  consult  of  all 
such  things  as  may  concerne  the  good  of  the  publike,  as  also  to 
examine  their  owne  Elections,  whether  according  to  the  order, 
and  if  they  or  the  gretest  parte  of  them  find  any  election  to  be 
illcgall  they  may  seclud  such  for  present  from  their  meeting,  and 
returne  the  same  and  their  resons  to  the  Courte;   and  if  yt  prove 
true,  the  Courte  may  fyne  the  party  or  partyes  so  intruding  and 
the  Towne,  if  they  see  cause,  and  give  out  a  warrant  to  goe  to 
a  newe  election  in  a  legall  way,  either  in  parte  or  in  whole.     Also 
the  said  deputyes  shall  have  power  to  fyne  any  that  shall  be  dis 
orderly  at  their  meetings,  or  for  not  comming  in  due  tyme  or  place 
according  to  appoyntment.  .  .  . 

10.  It   is    Ordered  .  .  .  that   every    Generall    Courte,    except 
such  as  through  neglecte  of  the  Governor  and  the  greatest  parte 
of  Magestrats  the  Freemen  themselves  doe  call,  shall  consist  of 
the  Governor,  or  some  one  chosen  to  moderate  the  Court,  and 
4  other  Magestrats  at  lest,  with  the  mayor  parte  of  the  deputyes 
of  the  severall  Townes  legally  chosen;    and  in  case  the  Freemen 
or  mayor  parte  of  them,  through  neglect  or  refusall  of  the  Governor 
and  mayor  parte  of  the  magestrats,  shall  call  a  Courte,  it  shall 


1638/9]      FUNDAMENTAL  ARTICLES   OF   NEW  HAVEN          39 

consist  of  the  mayor  parte  of  Freemen  that  are  present  or  their 
deputyes,  with  a  Moderator  chosen  by  them:  In  which  said 
Generall  Courts  shall  consist  the  supreme  power  of  the  Common- 
welth,  and  they  only  shall  have  power  to  make  lawes  or  repeale 
them,  to  graunt  levyes,  to  admitt  of  Freemen,  dispose  of  lands 
undisposed  of,  to  severall  Townes  or  persons,  and  also  shall 
have  power  to  call  ether  Courte  or  Magestrate  or  any  other  person 
whatsoever  into  question  for  any  misdemeanour,  and  may  for  just 
causes  displace  or  deale  otherwise  according  to  the  nature  of  the 
offence;  and  also  may  deale  in  any  other  matter  that  concerns 
the  good  of  this  commonwelth,  excepte  election  of  Magestrats, 
which  shall  be  done  by  the  whole  boddy  of  Freemen. 

In  which  Courte  the  Governour  or  Moderator  shall  have  power 
to  order  the  Courte  to  give  liberty  of  spech,  and  silence  unceason- 
able  and  disorderly  speakeings,  to  put  all  things  to  voate,  and  in 
case  the  vote  be  equall  to  have  the  casting  voice.  But  non  of 
these  Courts  shall  be  adjorned  or  dissolved  without  the  consent 
of  the  major  parte  of  the  Court. 

n.  It  is  ordered  .  .  .  that  when  any  Generall  Courte  uppon 
the  occations  of  the  Commonwelth  have  agreed  uppon  any  summe 
or  sommes  of  mony  to  be  levyed  uppon  the  severall  Townes  within 
this  Jurisdiction,  that  a  Committee  be  chosen  to  sett  out  and 
appoynt  what  shall  be  the  proportion  of  every  Towne  to  pay  of 
the  said  levy,  provided  the  Committees  be  made  up  of  an  equall 

number  out  of  each  Towne. 

*******  * 


No.  10.    Fundamental  Articles  of  New  Havei> 

June  4/14,  1639 

A  SETTLEMENT  at  New  Haven  was  made  in  April,  1638,  by  a  party  of  emi 
grants  under  the  lead  of  John  Davenport,  a  prominent  nonconformist  minister 
of  London,  and  Theophilus  Eaton,  a  wealthy  London  merchant  and  former 
deputy  governor  of  the  East  India  Company.  Most  of  the  party  had  arrived 
at  Boston  in  the  summer  of  1637,  and  were  offered  strong  inducements  to 
remain  in  Massachusetts  ;  but  the  religious  condition  of  that  colony,  just 
emerging  from  the  Hutchinsonian  controversv,  and  a  desire  to  found  an  in 
dependent  state  on  a  scriptural  model,  determined  them  to  remove  to  Con 
necticut.  For  a  year  they  lived  under  a  "plantation  covenant,"  apparently 


40      FUNDAMENTAL   ARTICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN     [June  4/14 

an  ecclesiastical  as  well  as  corporate  agreement,  in  the  meantime  acquiring 
title  to  the  land  by  deeds  from  the  Indians.  The  Fundamental  Articles 
were  agreed  upon  June  4/14,  1639;  in  October  the  first  general  court  was 
held,  and  the  government  established,  with  Eaton  as  governor. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  New  Haven  Colonial  Records  (1638-1649),  pp. 
11-17. 

The  4th  day  of  the  4th  moneth  called  June  1639,  all  the  free 
planters  assembled  together  in  a  gefneral  *]  meetinge  to  consult 
about  settling  civill  Government  according  to  God,  and  about 
the  nomination  of  persons  thatt  might  be  founde  by  consent  of 
all  fittest  in  all  respects  for  the  foundation  worke  of  a  church 
wfhich]  was  intend  to  be  gathered  in  Quinipieck.  After  solemne 
invocation  of  the  name  of  God  in  prayer  [for]  the  presence  and 
help  of  his  speritt,  and  grace  in  those  weighty  businesses,  they 
were  reminded  of  t[he]  busines  whereabout  they  mett  [viz]  for 
the  establishment  of  such  civill  order  as  might  be  most  p[leas]ing 
unto  God,  and  for  the  chuseing  the  fittest  men  for  the  foundation 
worke  of  a  church  to  be  gather [ed].  For  the  better  inableing 
them  to  discerne  the  minde  of  God  and  to  agree  accordingly  con 
cerning  the  establishment  of  civill  order,  Mr.  John  Davenport 
propounded  divers  quaeres  to  them  publiquely.  .  .  . 

This  being  earnestly  pressed  by  Mr.  Davenport,  Mr.  Robt. 
Newman  was  intreated  to  write  in  carracters  and  to  read  dis 
tinctly  and  audibly  in  the  hearing  of  all  the  people  whatt  was 
propounded  and  accorded  on  that  itt  might  appeare  thatt  all  con 
sented  to  matters  propounded  according  to  words  written  by  him. 

QLVER.  i.  Whether  the  Scripturs  doe  holde  forth  a  perfect  rule 
for  the  direction  and  government  of  all  men  in  all  duet[ies]  which 
they  are  to  performe  to  God  and  men  as  well  in  the  government 
of  famylyes  and  commonwealths  as  in  matters  of  the  chur.  • 

This  was  assented  unto  by  all,  no  man  dissenting  as  was  ex 
pressed  by  holding  up  of  hands.  Afterward  itt  was  read  over  to 
them  thatt  they  might  see  in  whatt  words  their  vote  was  expressed : 
They  againe  expressed  their  consent  thereto  by  holdeing  up  their 
hands,  no  man  dissenting. 

QILER.  2.  Whereas  there  was  a  covenant  solemnly  made  by  the 
whole  assembly  of  free-planters  of  this  plantation  the  first  day  of 
extraordenary  humiliation  which  wee  had  after  wee  came  together, 

1  Words  and  letters  in  brackets  are  obliterated  or  illegible  in  the  original.  —  ED. 


1639]          FUNDAMENTAL  ARTICLES   OF  NEW   HAVEN  41 

thatt  as  in  matters  thatt  concerne  the  gathering  and  ordering  of 
a  chur.  so  likewise  in  all  publique  offices  which  concerne  civill 
order,  as  choyce  of  magistrates  and  officers,  makeing  and  repeal 
ing  of  lawes,  devideing  allotments  of  inheritance  and  all  things 
of  like  nature  we  would  all  of  us  be  ordered  by  those  rules  which 
the  scripture  holds  forth  to  us.  ...  Itt  was  demaunded  whether 
all  the  free  planters  doe  holde  themselves  bound  by  thatt  covenant 
in  all  businesses  of  thatt  nature  which  are  expressed  in  the  covenant 
to  submitt  themselves  to  be  ordered  by  the  rules  held  forth  in  the 
scripture. 

This  also  was  assented  unto  by  all,  and  no  man  gainesaid  itt.  .  .  . 

QU^ER.  3.  Those  who  have  desired  to  be  received  as  free 
planters,  and  are  settled  in  the  plantation  with  a  purpfose,]  reso 
lution  and  desire  thatt  they  may  be  admitted  into  chur.  fellowship 
according  to  Christ  as  soone  [as]  God  shall  fitt  them  thereunto: 
were  desired  to  express  itt  by  holdeing  up  of  hands:  Accordingly 
a[ll]  did  expresse  this  to  be  their  desire  and  purpose  by  holdeing 
up  their  hands  twice,  [viz]  both  att  the  [pro]posall  of  itt,  and 
after  when  these  wrritten  wrords  were  read  unto  them. 

QIVER.  4.  All  the  free  planters  were  called  upon  to  expresse 
whether  they  held  themselves  bound  to  estafblish]  such  civill 
order  as  might  best  conduce  to  the  secureing  of  the  purity  and 
peace  of  the  ordinances]  to  themselves  and  their  posterity  ac 
cording  to  God.  In  answer  hereunto  they  expressed  by  hold- 
[ing]  up  their  hands  twice  as  before.  .  .  . 

Then  Mr.  Davenport  declared  unto  them  by  the  scripture  whatt 
kinde  of  persons  might  best  be  trusted  with  matters  of  govern 
ment.  .  .  .  Having  thus  said  he  satt  downe,  praying  the  com 
pany  freely  to  consider  whether  they  would  have  [it]  voted  att  this 
time  or  nott:  After  some  space  of  silence  Mr.  Theophilus  Eaton 
answered  itt  mifght]  be  voted,  and  some  others  allso  spake  to 
the  same  purpose,  none  att  all  opposeing  itt.  Then  itt  wTas  pro 
pounded  to  vote. 

QU^ER.  5.  Whether  Free  Burgesses  shalbe  chosen  out  of  chur. 
members  they  thatt  are  in  the  foundation]  worke  of  the  church 
being  actually  free  burgesses,  and  to  chuse  to  themselves  out  of 
the  lifke]  estate  of  church  fellowship  and  the  power  of  chuseing 
magistrates  and  officers  from  among  themselves  and  the  power 
off  makeing  and  repealing  lawes  according  to  the  worde,  and  the 


42       FUNDAMENTAL  ARTICLES   OF  NEW   HAVEN     [June  4/14 

devideing  of  inheritances  and  decideing  of  differences  thatt  may 
arise,  and  all  the  businesses  of  like  nature  are  to  be  transacted 
by  those  free  burgesses. 

This  was  putt  to  vote  and  agreed  unto  by  the  lifting  up  of 
hands  twice  as  in  the  former  itt  was  done  .  .  .  and  Mr.  Robert 
Newman  was  desired  to  write  itt  as  an  order  whereunto  every  one 
thatt  hereafter  should  be  admitted  here  as  planters  should  submitt 
and  testefie  the  same  by  subscribeing  their  names  to  the  order, 
namely,  that  church  members  onely  shall  be  free  burgesses,  and 
thatt  they  onely  shall  chuse  magistrates  &  officers  among  them 
selves  to  have  the  power  of  transacting  all  the  publique  civill 
affayres  of  this  Plantation,  of  makeing  and  repealing  lawes, 
devideing  of  inheritances,  decideing  of  differences  thatt  may  arise 
and  doeing  all  things  or  businesses  of  like  nature. 

This  being  thus  settled  as  a  foundamentall  agreement  concern 
ing  civill  government.  Mr.  Davenport  proceeded  to  propound 
some  things  to  consideration  aboute  the  gathering  of  a  chur. 
And  to  prevent  the  blemishing  of  the  first  beginnings  of  the  chur. 
worke,  Mr.  Davenport  advised  thatt  the  names  of  such  as  were  to 
be  admitted  might  be  publiquely  propounded,  to  the  end  thatt 
they  who  were  most  approved  might  be  chosen,  for  the  towne 
being  cast  into  severall  private  meetings  wherein  they  thatt  dwelt 
nearest  together  gave  their  accounts  one  to  another  of  Gods  gra 
cious  worke  upon  them,  and  prayed  together  and  conferred  to 
their  mutuall  ediffication,  sundry  of  them  had  knowledg  one  of 
another,  and  in  every  meeting  some  one  was  more  approved  of 
all  then  any  other,  For  this  reason,  and  to  prevent  scandalls,  the 
whole  company  was  intreated  to  consider  whom  they  found  fittest 
to  nominate  for  this  worke. 

QILER.  6.  Whether  are  you  all  willing  and  doe  agree  in  this 
thatt  twelve  men  be  chosen  thatt  their  fitnesse  for  the  foundation 
worke  may  be  tried,  however  there  may  be  more  named  yett  itt 
may  be  in  their  power  who  are  chosen  to  reduce  them  to  twelve, 
and  itt  be  in  the  power  of  those  twelve  to  chuse  out  of  themselves 
seaven  that  shall  be  most  approved  of  the  major  part  to  begin  the 
church. 

This  was  agreed  upon  by  consent  of  all  as  was  expressed  by 
holdeing  up  of  hands,  and  thatt  so  many  as  should  be  thought 
fitt  for  the  foundation  worke  of  the  church  shall  be  propounded 


1639]  PATENT   OF  PROVIDENCE  PLANTATIONS  43 

by  the  plantation,  and  written  downe  and  passe  without  exception 
unlesse  they  had  given  publique  scandall  or  offence,  yett  so  as  in 
case  of  publique  scandall  or  offence,  every  one  should  have  lib 
erty  to  propound  their  exception  att  thatt  time  publiquely  against 
any  man  that  should  be  nominated  when  all  their  names  should 
be  writt  downe,  butt  if  the  offence  were  private,  thatt  mens  names 
might  be  tendered,  so  many  as  were  offended  were  intreated  to 
deale  with  the  offender  privately,  and  if  he  gave  nott  satisfaction, 
to  bring  the  matter  to  the  twelve  thatt  they  might  consider  of  itt 
impartially  and  in  the  feare  of  God.  The  names  of  the  persons 
nominated  and  agreed  upon  were  Mr.  Theoph.  Eaton,  Mr.  John 
Davenport,  Mr.  Robert  Newman,  Mr.  Math.  Gilbert,  Mr.  Richard 
Malbon,  Mr.  Nath :  Turner,  Eze :  Chevers,  Thomas  Fugill,  John 
Ponderson,  William  Andrewes,  and  Jer.  Dixon.  Noe  exception 
was  brought  against  any  of  those  in  publique,  except  one  about 
takeing  an  excessive  rate  for  meale  which  he  sould  to  one  of 
Pequanack  in  his  need,  which  he  confessed  with  griefe  and  de 
clared  thatt  haveing  beene  smitten  in  heart  and  troubled  in  his 
conscience,  he  restored  such  a  part  of  the  price  back  againe  with 
confession  of  his  sin  to  the  party  as  he  thought  himselfe  bound 
to  doe.  And  it  being  feared  thatt  the  report  of  the  sin  was  heard 
farther  thfan]  the  report  of  his  satisfaction,  a  course  was  con 
cluded  on  to  make  the  satisfaction  known  to  as  many  as  heard 
of  the  sinn.  , 


No.  ii.     Patent  of  Providence  Plantations 

March  14/24,  1643 

IN  1636  Roger  Williams,  lately  banished  from  Massachusetts,  established 
himself  at  Providence.  A  settlement  was  made  at  Portsmouth,  under  Will 
iam  Coddington,  in  March,  1637/8,  and  another  at  Newport  in  1639.  War 
wick  was  planted  in  1642/3,  by  Samuel  Gorton  and  others.  In  1643  Williams, 
through  the  influence  of  the  Earl  of  Warwick,  obtained  a  patent  uniting  the 
settlements  at  Providence,  Portsmouth,  and  Newport,  under  the  name  of 
Providence  Plantations.  A  government  under  the  patent  was  not  organized 
until  May,  1647,  at  which  time  Warwick  was  admitted.  The  patent  con 
ferred  liberal  rights  of  self-government,  but  made  no  grant  of  land. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Rhode  Island  Colonial  Records,  I.,  143-146.     The 


44       PATENT   OF   PROVIDENCE   PLANTATIONS     [March  14/24 

laws  passed  in  1647  are  in  ib.,  I.,  147-208.  See  also  Early  Records  of  the 
Town  of  Providence,  L;  Staples's  Annals  of  the  Town  of  Providence;  and 
bibliographical  notes  in  Winsor's  Narr.  and  Crit.  Hist.,  III.,  376-380. 

.  .  .  Whereas  .  .  .  there  is  a  Tract  of  Land  .  .  .  called  by 
the  Name  of  the  Narraganset-Bay;  bordering  Northward  and 
Northeast  on  the  Patent  of  the  Massachusetts,  East  and  Southeast 
on  Plymouth  Patent,  South  on  the  Ocean,  and  on  the  West  and 
Northwest  by  the  Indians  called  Nahigganneucks,  alias  Nar- 
ragansets;  the  whole  Tract  extending  about  Twenty-five  English 
Miles  unto  the  Pequot  River  and  Country. 

And  whereas  divers  well  affected  and  industrious  English 
Inhabitants,  of  the  Towns  of  Providence,  Portsmouth,  and  New 
port  in  the  tract  aforesaid,  have  adventured  to  make  a  nearer 
neighborhood  and  Society  with  the  great  Body  of  the  Narragan- 
sets,  which  may  in  Time  by  the  blessing  of  God  upon  their 
Endeavours,  lay  a  sure  Foundation  of  Happiness  to  all  America. 
And  have  also  purchased,  and  are  purchasing  of  and  amongst  the 
said  Natives,  some  other  Places,  which  may  be  convenient  both 
for  Plantations,  and  also  for  building  of  Ships,  Supply  of  Pipe 
Staves  and  other  Merchandize.  And  whereas  the  said  English, 
have  represented  their  Desire  ...  to  have  their  hopeful  Begin 
nings  approved  and  confirmed,  by  granting  unto  them  a  Free 
Charter  of  Civil  Incorporation  and  Government;  ...  In  due 
Consideration  of  the  said  Premises,  the  said  Robert  Earl  of  War 
wick,  .  .  .  and  the  greater  Number  of  the  said  Commissioners, 
.  .  .  out  of  a  Desire  to  encourage  the  good  Beginnings  of  the 
said  Planters,  Do,  by  the  Authority  of  the  aforesaid  Ordinance 
of  the  Lords  and  Commons,  .  .  .  grant  ...  to  the  aforesaid 
Inhabitants  of  the  Towns  of  Providence,  Portsmouth,  and  New 
port,  a  free  and  absolute  Charter  of  Incorporation,  to  be  known 
by  the  Name  of  the  Incorporation  of  Providence  Plantations, 
in  the  Narraganset-Bay,  in  New  England.  —  Together  with 
full  Power  and  Authority  to  rule  themselves,  and  such  others 
as  shall  hereafter  inhabit  within  any  Part  of  the  said  Tract  of 
land,  by  such  a  Form  of  Civil  Government,  as  by  voluntary  con 
sent  of  all,  or  the  greater  Part  of  them,  they  shall  find  most  suit 
able  to  their  Estate  and  Condition;  and,  for  that  End,  to  make 
and  ordain  such  Civil  Laws  and  Constitutions,  and  to  inflict  such 


1643]  NEW  ENGLAND    CONFEDERATION  45 

punishments  upon  Transgressors,  and  for  Execution  thereof,  so 
to  place,  and  displace  Officers  of  Justice,  as  they,  or  the  greatest 
Part  of  them,  shall  by  free  Consent  agree  unto.  Provided  never 
theless,  that  the  said  Laws,  Constitutions,  and  Punishments,  for 
the  Civil  Government  of  the  said  Plantations,  be  conformable  to 
the  Laws  of  England,  so  far  as  the  Nature  and  Constitution  of  the 
place  will  admit.  And  always  reserving  to  the  said  Earl,  and 
Commissioners,  and  their  Successors,  Power  and  Authority  for 
to  dispose  the  general  Government  of  that,  as  it  stands  in  Rela 
tion  to  the  rest  of  the  Plantations  in  America  as  they  shall  con 
ceive  from  Time  to  Time,  most  conducing  to  the  general  Good 
of  the  said  Plantations,  the  Honour  of  his  Majesty,  and  the  Ser 
vice  of  the  State.  .  .  . 


No.  12.     New  England  Confederation 

May   19/29,   1643 

THE  first  definite  suggestion  of  a  confederation  of  the  New  England  colo 
nies  appears  to  have  been  made  in  1637,  when  certain  magistrates  and  minis 
ters  from  Connecticut  held  a  conference  on  the  subject  with  the  Massachusetts 
authorities  at  Boston.  A  notice  of  this  meeting  was  sent  to  Plymouth,  but  too 
late  for  that  colony  to  be  represented.  A  counter  proposition  from  Massa 
chusetts,  in  1638,  failed  because  of  the  refusal  of  Connecticut  to  allow  the 
decision  of  a  majority  of  the  commissioners,  in  cases  of  dispute,  to  be  final. 
The  matter  was  again  urged  by  Connecticut  in  1639,  in  view  of  threatening 
reports  from  New  Netherland ;  but,  although  favorably  considered  by  Massa 
chusetts,  nothing  came  of  it.  Fear  of  an  Indian  war  led  to  a  joint  proposal  to 
Massachusetts,  in  1640,  from  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  and  New  Haven; 
but  Massachusetts  refused  to  treat  with  Rhode  Island.  Finally,  in  1642, 
moved  by  the  "sad  distractions  in  England  "  and  the  renewed  danger  of  an 
Indian  war,  the  Massachusetts  General  Court  appointed  a  committee  to  treat 
with  the  other  colonies  in  regard  to  union.  In  May,  1643,  the  commissioners 
met  at  Boston,  and  agreed  upon  the  articles  following;  but  the  representa 
tives  of  Plymouth  not  having  authority  to  conclude  the  negotiations  at  that 
time,  the  ratification  of  that  colony  was  delayed  until  the  first  meeting  of  the 
commissioners,  Sept.  4/14.  Rhode  Island  was  not  a  member  of  the  confed 
eration,  and  applications  for  admission,  in  1644  and  1648,  were  refused,  unless 
the  Rhode  Island  settlements  would  acknowledge  the  jurisdiction  of  either 
Massachusetts  or  Plymouth.  The  importance  of  the  confederation  practi- 


46  NEW   ENGLAND    CONFEDERATION      [May  19/29 

cally  ceased  after  1662,  when  New  Haven  was  united  with  Connecticut;  but 
the  commissioners  continued  to  hold  occasional  meetings  until  1684. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  New  Haven  Colonial  Records,  1653-1665,  pp. 
562-566.  The  records  of  the  commissioners  are  in  Plymouth  Colony  Records, 
IX.,  X.  Frothingham,  Rise  of  the  Republic,  63,  n.  2,  gives  a  list  of  the  meet 
ings.  See  also  Winthrop's  New  England,  passim;  Hubbard's  History  oj 
Massachusetts  (Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  Second  Series,  VI.),  chap.  52. 

Whereas  we  all  came  into  these  parts  of  America,  with  one 
and  the  same  end  and  ayme,  namely,  to  advance  the  Kingdome 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  enjoy  the  liberties  of  the  Gospel, 
in  purity  with  peace;  and  whereas  in  our  settling  (by  a  wise 
providence  of  God)  we  are  further  dispersed  upon  the  Sea-Coasts, 
and  Rivers,  then  was  at  first  intended,  so  that  we  cannot  (accord 
ing  to  our  desire)  with  convenience  communicate  in  one  Govern 
ment,  and  Jurisdiction;  and  whereas  we  live  encompassed  with 
people  of  severall  Nations,  and  strange  languages,  which  hereafter 
may  prove  injurious  to  us,  and  our  posterity :  And  forasmuch  as 
the  Natives  have  formerly  committed  sundry  insolencies  and 
outrages  upon  severall  Plantations  of  the  English,  and  have  of 
late  combined  against  us.  And  seeing  by  reason  of  the  sad  dis 
tractions  in  England,  which  they  have  heard  of,  and  by  which 
they  know  we  are  hindred  both  from  that  humble  way  of  seeking 
advice,  and  reaping  those  comfortable  fruits  of  protection  which, 
at  other  times,  we  might  well  expect;  we  therefore  doe  conceive 
it  our  bounden  duty,  without  delay,  to  enter  into  a  present  Con- 
sotiation  amongst  our  selves,  for  mutuall  help  and  strength  in  all 
our  future  concernments,  that,  as  in  Nation,  and  Religion,  so, 
in  other  respects,  we  be,  and  continue,  One,  according  to  the 
tenour  and  true  meaning  of  the  ensuing  Articles. 

I.  Wherefore  it  is  fully  Agreed  and  Concluded  by  and  between 
the  parties,  or  Jurisdictions  [of  Massachusetts,  Plymouth,  Con 
necticut  and  New  Haven]  That  they  all  be,  and  henceforth  be 
called  by  the  name  of,  The  United  Colonies  of  New-England. 

II.  The  said  United  Colonies  for  themselves,   and  their  pos 
terities  doe  joyntly  and  severally  hereby  enter  into  a  firm  and 
perpetuall  league  of  friendship  and  amity,  for  offence  and  defence, 
mutuall  advice  and  succour,  upon  all  just  occasions,  both  for  pre 
serving  and  propagating  the  truth,  and  liberties  of  the  Gospel, 
and  for  their  own  mutuall  safety,  and  wellfare. 


1643]  NEW   ENGLAND    CONFEDERATION  47 

III.  It  is  further  agreed,  That  the  Plantations  which  at  present 
are,  or  hereafter  shall  be  settled  within  the  limits  of  the  Massa- 
chusets,  shall  be  forever  under  the  Government  of  the  Massa- 
chusets.     And  shall  have  peculiar  Jurisdiction  amongst  themselves, 
as  an  intire  body;    and  that  Plimouth,  Connecticut,  and  New- 
Haven,  shall  each  of  them,  in  all  respects,  have  the  like  peculiar 
Jurisdiction,  and  Government  within  their  limits.     And  in  refer 
ence  to  the  Plantations  which  already  are  setled,  or  shall  here 
after   be    erected    and    shall    settle    within    any   of    their   limits 
respectively,  provided  that  no  other  Jurisdiction  shall  hereafter 
be  taken  in,  as  a  distinct  head,  or  Member  of  this  Confederation, 
nor  shall  any  other  either  Plantation,  or  Jurisdiction  in  present 
being,  and  not  already  in  combination,  or  under  the  Jurisdiction 
of  any  of  these  Confederates,  be  received  by  any  of  them,  nor 
shall  any  two  of  these  Confederates,  joyne  in  one  Jurisdiction, 
without  consent  of  the  rest.   ,  .  . 

IV.  It  is  also  by  these  Confederates  agreed,  That  the  charge 
of  all  just  Wars,  whether  offensive,  or  defensive,  upon  what  part 
or  Member  of  this  Confederation  soever  they  fall,  shall  both  in 
men,  provisions,  and  all  other  disbursements,  be  born  by  all  the 
parts  of  this  Confederation,  in  different  proportions,  according 
to  their  different  abilities,   in  manner  following,   namely,   That 
the  Commissioners  for  each  Jurisdiction,  from  time  to  time,  as 
there  shall  be  occasion,  bring  a  true  account  and  number  of  all 
the  Males  in  each  Plantation,  or  any  way  belonging  to,  or  under 
their  severall  Jurisdictions,  of  what  quality,  or  condition  soever 
they  be,  from  sixteen  years  old,  to  threescore,  being  inhabitants 
there.     And  that  according  to  the  different  numbers,  which  from 
time  to  time  shall  be  found  in  each  Jurisdiction,  upon  a  true, 
and  just  account,  the  service  of  men,  and  all  charges  of  the  war, 
be  born  by  the  poll:    Each  Jurisdiction,  or  Plantation,  being  left 
to  their  own  just  course,  and  custome,  of  rating  themselves,  and 
people,  according  to  their  different  estates,  with  due  respect  to 
their  qualities  and   exemptions  among   themselves,    though   the 
Confederation  take  no  notice  of  any  such  priviledge.     And  that, 
according  to  the  different  charge  of  each  Jurisdiction,  and  Plan 
tation,  the  whole  advantage  of  the  War  (if  it  please  God  so  to 
blesse  their  endeavours)  whether  it  be  in  Lands,  Goods,  or  per 
sons,  shall  be  proportionably  divided  among  the  said  Confederates. 


48  NEW  ENGLAND    CONFEDERATION      [May  19/25 

V.  It  is  further  agreed,  That  if  any  of  these  Jurisdictions,  or 
any  Plantation  under,  or  in  Combination  with  them,  be  invaded 
by  any  enemy  whomsoever,  upon  notice,  and  request  of  any  three 
Magistrates  of  that  Jurisdiction  so  invaded.     The  rest  of  the  Con 
federates,   without  any  further   meeting  or  expostulation,   shall 
forthwith  send  ayde  to  the  Confederate  in  danger,  but  in  different 
proportion,    namely  the    Massachusets   one    hundred    men   suffi 
ciently  armed,  and  provided  for  such  a  service,  and  journey. 
And  each  of  the  rest  five  and  forty  men,  so  armed  and  provided, 
or  any  lesse  number,  if  lesse  be  required,  according  to  this  pro 
portion.     But  if  such  a  Confederate  may  be  supplyed  by  their 
next  Confederate,  not  exceeding  the  number  hereby  agreed,  they 
may  crave  help  there,  and  seek  no  further  for  the  present.     The 
charge  to  be  born,  as  in  this  Article  is  expressed.     And  at  their 
return  to  be  victualled,  and  supplied  with  powder  and  shot  (if 
there  be  need)  for  their  journey  by  that  Jurisdiction  which  im- 
ployed,  or  sent  for  them.  .  .  .     But  in  any  such  case  of  sending 
men  for  present  ayde,  whether  before  or  after  such  order  or  altera 
tion,  it  is  agreed,  That  at  the  meeting  of  the  Commissioners  for 
this  Confederation,  the  cause  of  such  war  or  invasion,  be  duly 
considered,  and  if  it  appear,  that  the  fault  lay  in  the  party  so 
invaded,  that  then,  that  Jurisdiction,  or  Plantation,  make  just 
satisfaction,  both  to  the  invaders,  whom  they  have  injuried,  and 
bear  all  the  charges  of  the  war  themselves.  .  .  . 

And  further,  if  any  Jurisdiction  see  any  danger  of  an  invasion 
approaching,  and  there  be  time  for  a  meeting,  That  in  such  case, 
three  Magistrates  of  that  Jurisdiction  may  summon  a  meeting,  at 
such  convenient  place,  as  themselves  shall  think  meet,  to  con 
sider,  and  provide  against  the  threatened  danger.  .  .  . 

VI.  It  is  also  agreed,  That  for  the  managing  and  concluding 
of  all  affaires  proper  to,  and  concerning  the  whole  Confederation, 
two  Commissioners  shall  be  chosen  by,  and  out  of  the  foure  Juris 
dictions,  namely  two  for  the  Massachusets,  two  for  Plimouth,  two 
for  Connecticut,  and  two  for  New-haven,  being  all  in  Church- 
fellowship  with  us,  which  shall  bring  full  power  from  their  severall 
generall  Courts  respectively,  to  hear,  examine,  weigh,  and  deter 
mine  all  affaires  of  war,  or  peace,  leagues,  aydes,  charges,  and 
numbers  of  men  for  war,  division  of  spoyles,  or  whatsoever  is 
gotten  by  conquest,  receiving  of  more  confederates,  or  Plantations 


1643]  NEW   ENGLAND    CONFEDERATION  49 

into  Combination  with  any  of  these  Confederates,  and  all  things 
of  like  nature,  which  are  the  proper  concomitants,  or  conse 
quences  of  such  a  Confederation,  for  amity,  offence,  and  defence> 
not  intermedling  wTith  the  Government  of  any  of  the  Jurisdictions, 
which  by  the  third  Article,  is  preserved  intirely  to  themselves. 
...  It  is  further  agreed,  That  these  eight  Commissioners  shall 
meet  once  every  year,  besides  extraordinary  meetings,  according 
to  the  fifth  Article  to  consider,  treat,  and  conclude  of  all  affaires 
belonging  to  this  Confederation,  which  meeting  shall  ever  be  the 
first  Thursday  in  September.  And  that  the  next  meeting  after 
the  date  of  these  presents,  which  shall  be  accounted  the  second 
meeting,  shall  be  at  Boston  in  the  Massachusets,  the  third  at 
Hartford,  the  fourth  at  New-haven,  the  fifth  at  Plimouth,  the 
sixth  and  seventh  at  Boston;  and  then  Hartford,  New-haven, 
and  Plymouth,  and  so  in  course  successively.  If  in  the  mean  time, 
some  middle  place  be  not  found  out,  and  agreed  on,  which  may 
be  commodious  for  all  the  Jurisdictions. 

*#*•###•## 
VIII.  It  is  also  agreed,  That  the  Commissioners  for  this  Con 
federation  hereafter  at  their  meetings,  whether  ordinary  or  ex 
traordinary,  as  they  may  have  Commission  or  opportunity,  doe 
endeavour  to  frame  and  establish  Agreements  and  Orders  in 
generall  cases  of  a  civil  nature,  wherein  all  the  Plantations  are 
interested,  for  preserving  peace  amongst  themselves,  and  pre 
venting  (as  much  as  may  be)  all  occasions  of  war,  or  differences 
with  others,  as  about  the  free  and  speedy  passage  of  Justice  in 
each  Jurisdiction,  to  all  the  Confederates  equally,  as  to  their 
own,  receiving  those  that  remove  from  one  Plantation  to  another, 
without  due  Certificates,  how  all  the  Jurisdictions  may  carry  it 
towards  the  Indians,  that  they  neither  grow  insolent,  nor  be 
injuried  without  due  satisfaction,  least  War  break  in  upon  the 
Confederates,  through  such  miscarriages.  It  is  also  agreed, 
That  if  any  Servant  run  away  from  his  Master,  into  any  other  of 
these  Confederated  Jurisdictions,  That  in  such  case,  upon  the 
Certificate  of  one  Magistrate  in  the  Jurisdiction,  out  of  which 
the  said  Servant  fled,  or  upon  other  due  proof,  the  said  Servant 
shall  be  delivered  either  to  his  Master,  or  any  other  that  pursues, 
and  brings  such  Certificate,  or  proof.  And  that  upon  the  escape 
of  any  Prisoner  whatsoever,  or  fugitive,  for  any  Criminall  Cause, 


50  GOVERNMENT   OF   NEW  HAVEN     [Oct.  27 /Nov.  6 

whether  breaking  Prison,  or  getting  from  the  Officer,  or  otherwise 
escaping,  upon  the  Certificate  of  two  Magistrates  of  the  Jurisdic 
tion  out  of  which  the  escape  is  made,  that  he  was  a  prisoner  or 
such  an  offender,  at  the  time  of  the  escape.  The  Magistrates, 
or  some  of  them,  of  that  Jurisdiction  where  for  the  present  the 
said  prisoner  or  fugitive  abideth,  shall  forthwith  grant  such  a 
Warrant,  as  the  case  will  bear,  for  the  apprehending  of  any  such 
person,  and  the  delivery  of  him  into  the  hand  of  the  Officer,  or 
other  person  who  pursueth  him.  And  if  help  be  required  for  the 
safe  returning  of  any  such  offender,  it  shall  be  granted  unto  him 
that  craves  the  same,  he  paying  the  charges  thereof. 

IX.  And  for  that  the  justest  Wars  may  be  of  dangerous  conse 
quence,  especially  to  the  smaller  Plantations  in  these  United 
Colonies,  it  is  agreed,  That  neither  the  Massachusets,  Plymouth, 
Connecticut,  nor  New-Haven,  nor  any  of  the  Members  of  any  of 
them,  shall  at  any  time  hereafter  begin  undertake  or  engage  them 
selves,  or  this  Confederation,  or  any  part  thereof  in  any  W7ar 
whatsoever  (sudden  exigents  with  the  necessary  consequences 
thereof  excepted,  which  are  also  to  be  moderated,  as  much  as 
the  case  will  permit)  without  the  consent  and  agreement  of  the 
forenamed  eight  Commissioners,  or  at  least  six  of  them,  as  in 
the  sixt  Article  is  provided.  .  .  . 

XI.  It  is  further  agreed,  That  if  any  of  the  Confederates  shall 
hereafter  break  any  of  these  presents  Articles,  or  be  any  other 
way  injurious  to  any  one  of  the  other  Jurisdictions  such  breach 
of  Agreement,  or  injury  shalbe  duly  considered,  and  ordered 
by  the  Commissioners  for  the  other  Jurisdictions,  that  both  peace, 
and  this  present  Confederation,  may  be  intirely  preserved  without 

violation. 

******** 


No.  13.     Government  of  New  Haven 

October  27/November  6,  1643 

INDEPENDENT  settlements,  similar  to  New  Haven,  were  established  at 
Guilford  and  Milford  in  1639,  and  at  Stamford  and  Southold  (Long  Island) 
2n  1640.  In  1643  these  settlements  united  with  New  Haven  in  a  representa- 


1643]  GOVERNMENT   OF   NEW   HAVEN  51 

live  government,  under  which  the  colony  continued  until    1662,  when  New 
Haven  was  incorporated  with  Connecticut  under  a  royal  charter. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  New  Haven  Colonial  Records,  1638-1649,  pp. 
112-116. 

Itt  was  agreed  and  concluded  as  a  foundamentall  order  nott  to 
be  disputed  or  questioned  hereafter,  thatt  none  shall  be  admitted 
to  be  free  burgesses  in  any  of  the  plantations  within  this  juris 
diction  for  the  future,  butt  such  planters  as  are  members  of  some 
or  other  of  the  approved  churches  in  New  England,  nor  shall  any 
butt  such  free  burgesses  have  any  vote  in  any  election,  (the  six 
present  freemen  att  Milforde  enjoying  the  liberty  with  the  cau 
tions  agreed,1)  nor  shall  any  power  or  trust  in  the  ordering  of  any 
civill  affayres,  be  att  any  time  putt  into  the  hands  of  any  other 
then  such  church  members,  though  as  free  planters,  all  have  right 
to  their  inherritance  &  to  comerce,  according  to  such  grants, 
orders  and  lawes  as  shall  be  made  concerning  the  same. 

2.  All  such  free  burgesses  shall  have  power  in  each  towne  or 
plantation  within  this  jurisdiction  to  chuse  fitt  and  able  men, 
from  amongst  themselves,  being  church  members  as  before,  to  be 
the  ordinary  judges,  to  heare  and  determine  all  inferior  causes, 
whether  civill  or  criminall,  provided  thatt  no  civill  cause  to  be 
tryed  in  any  of  these  plantation  Courts  in  value  exceed  20  *,  and 
thatt  the  punishment  in  such  criminalls,  according  to  the  minde 
of  God,  revealed  in  his  word,  touching  such  offences,  doe  nott 
exceed  stocking  and  whipping,  cr  if  the  fine  be  pecuniary,  thatt 
itt  exceed  nott  five  pounds.  .  .  . 

3.  All  such  free  burgesses  through  the  whole  jurisdiction,  shall 
have  vote  in  the  election  of  all  magistrates,  whether  Governor, 
Deputy  Governor,  or  other  magistrates,  with  a  Treasurer,  a  Sec 
retary  and  a  Marshall,    &c.  for  the  jurisdiction  .  .  .  and  these 
free  burgesses  may,  att  every  election,  chuse  so  many  magistrates 
for  each  plantation,  as  the  weight  of  affayres  may  require,  and  as 
they  shall  finde  fitt  men  for  thatt  trust.  .  .  . 

4.  All  the  magistrates  for  the  whole  jurisdiction  shall  meete 
twice  a  yeare  att  Newhaven,  namely,  the  Munday  immediately 
before  the  sitting  of  the  two  fixed  Generall  Courts  hereafter  men 
tioned,  to  keep  a  Court  called  the  Court  of  Magistrates,  for  the 

1  See  New  Haven  Colonial  Records,  1638—1649,  pp.  no,  in.  ~  EBa 


52  GOVERNMENT   OF   NEW   HAVEN    [Oct.  27/Nov.  6 

tryall  of  weighty  and  capitall  cases,  whether  civill  or  criminall, 
above  those  lymitted  to  the  ordinary  judges  in  the  perticular 
plantations,  and  to  receive  and  try  all  appeales  brought  unto 
them  from  the  aforesaid  Plantation  Courts,  and  to  call  all  the 
inhabitants,  whether  free  burgesses,  free  planters  or  others,  to 
account  for  the  breach  of  any  lawes  established,  and  for  other 
misdemeanours,  and  to  censure  them  according  to  the  quallity  of 
the  offence,  .  .  .  and  all  sentences  in  this  court  shall  pass  by  the 
vote  of  the  major  part  of  magistrates  therein,  butt  from  this 
Court  of  Magistrates,  appeales  and  complaints  may  be  made 
and  brought  to  the  Generall  Court  as  the  last  and  highest  for  this 
jurisdiction.  .  .  . 

5.  Besides  the  Plantation  Courts  and  Court  of  Magistrates, 
their  shall  be  a  Generall  Court  for  the  Jurisdiction,  which  shall 
consist  of  the  Governor,  Deputy  Governor  and  all  the  Magistrates 
within  the  Jurisdiction,  and  two  Deputyes  for  every  plantation 
in  the  Jurisdiction,  which  Deputyes  shall  from  time  to  time  be 
chosen  against  the  approach  of  any  such  Generall  Court,  by  the 
aforesaid  free  burgesses,  and  sent  with  due  certificate  to  assist  in 
the  same,  all  which,  both  Governor  and  Deputy  Governor,  Magis 
trates  and  Deputyes,  shall  have  their  vote  in  the  said  Court. 
This  Generall  Court  shall  alwayes  sitt  att  Newhaven,  (unless  upon 
weighty  occasions  the  Generall  Court  see  cause  for  a  time  to  sitt 
elsewhere,)  and  shall  assemble  twice  every  yeare,  namely,  the 
first  Wednesday  in  Aprill,  &  the  last  Wednesday  in  October,  in 
the  later  of  which  Courts,  the  Governor,  the  Deputy  Governor 
and  all  the  magistrates  for  the  whole  jurisdiction  with  a  Treasurer, 
a  Secretary  and  Marshall,  shall  yearely  be  chosen  by  all  the  free 
burgesses  before  mentioned,  besides  which  two  fixed  courts,  the 
Governor,  or  in  his  absence,  the  Deputy  Governor,  shall  have 
power  to  summon  a  Generall  Court  att  any  other  time,  as  the 
urgent  and  extraordinary  occasions  of  the  jurisdiction  may  re 
quire,  and  att  all  Generall  Courts,  whether  ordinary  or  extraor 
dinary,  the  Governor  and  Deputy  Governor,  and  all  the  rest  of 
the  magistrates  for  the  jurisdiction,  with  the  Deputyes  for  the 
severall  plantations,  shall  sitt  together,  till  the  affayres  of  the 
jurisdiction  be  dispatched  or  may  safely  be  respited,  .  .  .  which 
Generall  Court  shall,  with  all  care  and  dilligence  provide  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  purity  of  religion,  and  shall  suppress  the 


1643]  MARYLAND   TOLERATION  ACT  53 

contrary,  according  to  their  best  light  from  the  worde  of  God, 
and  all  wholsome  and  sound  advice  which  shall  be  given  by  the 
elders  and  churches  in  the  jurisdiction,  so  farr  as  may  concerne 
their  civill  power  to  deale  therein. 

Seconly,  they  shall  have  power  to  mak  and  repeale  lawes,  and, 
while  they  are  in  force,  to  require  execution  of  them  in  all  the 
severall  plantations. 

Thirdly,  to  impose  an  oath  upon  all  the  magistrates,  for  the 
faithfull  discharge  of  the  trust  comitted  to  them,  according  to 
their  best  abilityes,  and  to  call  them  to  account  for  the  breach 
of  any  lawes  established,  or  for  other  misdemeanors,  and  to  cen 
sure  them,  as  the  quallity  of  the  offence  shall  require. 

Fowerthly,  to  impose  and  [an]  oath  of  fidelity  and  due  subjec 
tion  to  the  lawes  upon  all  the  free  burgesses,  free  planters,  and 
other  inhabitants  within  the  whole  jurisdiction. 

5ly  to  settle  and  leivie  rates  and  contributions  upon  all  the 
severall  plantations,  for  the  publique  service  of  the  jurisdiction. 

6ly,  to  heare  and  determine  all  causes,  whether  civill  or  crimi- 
nall,  which  by  appeale  or  complaint  shall  be  orderly  brought  unto 
them  from  any  of  the  other  Courts,  or  from  any  of  the  other 
plantations,  In 'all  which,  with  whatsoever  else  shall  fall  within 
their  cognisance  or  judicature,  they  shall  proceed  according  to 
the  scriptures,  which  is  the  rule  of  all  rightous  lawes  and  sen 
tences,  and  nothing  shall  pass  as  an  act  of  the  Generall  Court 
butt  by  the  consent  of  the  major  part  of  magistrates,  and  the 
greater  part  of  Deputyes. 

******** 


No.  14.     Maryland  Toleration  Act 

April,  1649 

PRACTICAL  religious  toleration  existed  in  Maryland  from  the  first,  although 
for  some  years  the  Jesuits  were  the  only  clergy  in  the  colony.  The  Puritan 
party,  however,  increased ;  and  the  success  of  Parliament  in  its  struggle  with 
the  king  forced  Baltimore  not  only  to  protect  the  Catholics,  but  also  to  guard 
against  the  charge  that  Maryland  was  a  Catholic  colony.  To  that  end,  in 
1648  he  removed  the  governor,  Thomas  Greene,  a  Catholic,  and  appointed 
William  Stone  of  Virginia,  a  Protestant  and  an  adherent  of  the  Parliamentary 


54  MARYLAND    TOLERATION   ACT  [April 

cause.  With  the  new  commissions  for  the  governor  and  council,  Balti 
more  also  sent  drafts  of  sixteen  proposed  laws,  one  of  which,  apparently,  was 
the  Toleration  Act.  The  act  was  passed  by  an  assembly  the  majority  of 
whom  were  probably  Catholics,  held  at  St.  Mary's,  April  2-21,  1649.  A  pro 
viso  in  Stone's  commission,  forbidding  him  to  assent  to  the  repeal  of  any  law, 
past  or  future,  concerning  religion,  was  designed  to  prevent  later  interference. 
In  1654,  when  the  Puritans  gained  control,  the  protection  hitherto  accorded  to 
Catholics  was  withdrawn;  but  the  act  of  1649  was  revived  in  1658,  on  ths 
restoration  of  Baltimore's  authority,  and  was  incorporated  in  the  revision  of 
the  laws  made  in  1676.  An  order  of  1659,  imposing  penalties  upon  Quakers, 
seems  not  to  have  been  enforced. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Browne's  Archives  of  Maryland,  I.,  244-247. 
On  the  general  subject  of  toleration  in  Maryland,  see  references  in  Winsor's 
Narr.  and  Crit.  Hist.,  III.,  560-562. 

AN  ACT  CONCERNING  RELIGION 

[The  first  part  of  the  act  provides  for  the  punishment  of 
blasphemy  and  Sabbath-breaking,  and  of  such  persons  as  shall 
call  any  one  within  the  Province  "an  heretick,  Scismatick, 
Idolater,  puritan,  Independant,  Prespiterian  popish  prest,  Jesuite, 
Jesuited  papist,  Lutheran,  Calvenist,  Anabaptist,  Brownist,  Anti- 
nomian,  Barrowist,  Roundhead,  Separatist,  or  any  other  name  or 
terme  in  a  reproachfull  manner  relating  to  matter  of  Religion."] 

And  whereas  the  inforceing  of  the  conscience  in  matters  of 
Religion  hath  frequently  fallen  out  to  be  of  dangerous  Conse 
quence  in  those  commonwealthes  where  it  hath  been  practised, 
And  for  the  more  quiett  and  peaceable  governement  of  this 
Province,  and  the  better  to  preserve  mutuall  Love  and  amity 
amongst  the  Inhabitants  thereof.  Be  it  Therefore  .  .  .  enacted 
(except  as  in  this  present  Act  is  before  Declared  and  sett  forth) 
that  noe  person  or  persons  whatsoever  within  this  Province,  or 
the  Islands,  Ports,  Harbors,  Creekes,  or  havens  thereunto  be 
longing  professing  to  believe  in  Jesus  Christ,  shall  from  hence 
forth  bee  any  waies  troubled,  Molested  or  discountenanced  for 
or  in  respect  of  his  or  her  religion  nor  in  the  free  exercise  thereof 
within  this  Province  or  the  Islands  thereunto  belonging  nor  any 
way  compelled  to  the  beleife  or  exercise  of  any  other  Religion 
against  his  or  her  consent,  soe  as  they  be  not  unfaithfull  to  the 
Lord  Proprietary,  or  molest  or  conspire  against  the  civill  Govern 
ment  established  or  to  bee  established  in  this  Province  under  him 
or  his  heires.  And  that  all  &  every  person  and  persons  that  shall 


1649]  FIRST   NAVIGATION  ACT  55 

presume  Contrary  to  this  Act  and  the  true  intent  and  meaning 
thereof  directly  or  indirectly  either  in  person  or  estate  willfully 
to  wrong  disturbe  trouble  or  molest  any  person  whatsoever  within 
this  Province  professing  to  beleive  in  Jesus  Christ  for  or  in  re 
spect  of  his  or  her  religion  or  the  free  exercise  thereof  within 
this  Province  other  than  is  provided  for  in  this  Act  that  such 
person  or  persons  soe  offending,  shalbe  compelled  to  pay  trebble 
damages  to  the  party  soe  wronged  or  molested,  and  for  every  such 
offence  shall  also  forfeit  2o8  sterling  in  money  or  the  value  thereof 
.  .  . ,  Or  if  the  partie  soe  offending  as  aforesaid  shall  refuse  or 
bee  unable  to  recompense  the  party  soe  wronged,  or  to  satisfy 
such  ffyne  or  forfeiture,  then  such  Offender  shalbe  severely 
punished  by  publick  whipping  &  imprisonment  during  the  pleasure 
of  the  Lord  proprietary,  or  his  Leiuetenant  or  cheife  Governor  of 
this  Province  for  the  tyme  being  without  baile  or  maineprise.  .  .  . 


No.   15.     First  Navigation  Act 
1660 

UNDER  the  early  colonial  charters,  the  American  colonies  were  generally 
exempted,  either  wholly  or  for  a  term  of  years,  from  the  operation  of  the 
various  acts  for  the  regulation  of  trade  then  in  force.  The  activity  of  the 
Dutch,  however,  gradually  secured  to  that  nation  the  virtual  control  of 
the  colonial  carrying  trade.  To  regain  this  trade  for  the  English,  Parlia 
ment,  in  1645,  passed  the  first  of  a  long  series  of  .acts  and  ordinances  com 
monly  spoken  of  collectively  as  the  Navigation  Acts.  The  ordinance  of  1645 
prohibited  the  importation  into  England,  in  other  than  English  vessels 
manned  by  English  seamen,  of  whale  oil  and  other  products  of  the  whale 
fisheries.  An  ordinance  of  the  following  year  restricted  the  foreign  trade  of 
the  colonies  to  English  bottoms.  In  1649  the  importation  into  England, 
Ireland,  "or  any  of  the  dominions  thereof,"  of  French  wines,  wool,  and 
silk  was  prohibited.  In  1650,  Virginia  and  certain  of  the  West  India  col 
onies,  where  opposition  to  Puritanism  had  broken  out,  were  declared  to  be 
in  rebellion;  and  in  order  "to  hinder  the  carrying  over  of  any  such  persons 
as  are  enemies  to  this  Commonwealth,  or  that  may  prove  dangerous  to  any 
of  the  English  plantations  in  America,"  foreign  vessels  were  forbidden  to 
trade  with  the  colonies,  save  under  license  from  Parliament  or  the  Council 
of  State.  An  act  of  1651  embodied  "a  policy  of  coercion  pure  and  simple," 
forbidding  the  importation  of  products  of  Asia,  Africa,  or  America  into 
Great  Britain  or  the  British  colonies  except  in  British  or  colonial  vessels; 


56  FIRST  NAVIGATION  ACT  [1660 

restricting  the  importation  of  European  products  to  British  vessels,  or 
vessels  of  the  country  where  the  goods  were  produced  or  of  the  port  from 
which  they  were  usually  shipped;  limiting  the  trade  in  fish  to  British  or 
colonial  vessels;  and  excluding  foreign  vessels  from  the  English  coasting 
trade.  The  act  of  1660,  usually  known  as  the  First  Navigation  Act, 
embodied,  in  more  systematic  form,  the  important  provisions  of  earlier 
acts,  with  the  object  of  protecting  both  English  and  colonial  shipping,  and 
exploiting  the  colonial  trade  for  the  benefit  of  the  mother  country.  As 
the  act  was  passed  by  the  Convention  Parliament,  it  was  confirmed  in  1661 
by  the  first  Parliament,  known  technically  as  the  thirteenth,  regularly 
assembled  after  the  restoration  of  Charles  II. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Statutes  of  the  Realm,  V.,  246-250.  The  act  is 
cited  as  12  Car.  II.,  c.  18.  On  the  history  and  effects  of  the  Navigation 
Acts,  as  touching  America,  see  Beer's  Commercial  Policy  of  England  towards 
the  American  Colonies,  in  Columbia  Coll.  Studies,  III.,  No.  2. 

AN  ACT  for  the  Encourageing  and  increasing  of  Shipping  and 

Navigation. 

[I.]  For  the  increase  of  Shiping  and  incouragement  of  the 
Navigation  of  this  Nation,  wherin  under  the  good  providence 
and  protection  of  God  the  Wealth  Safety  and  Strength  of  this 
Kingdome  is  soe  much  concerned  Bee  it  Enacted  .  .  .  That 
from  and  after  .  .  .  [December  i,  1660]  .  .  . ,  and  from  thence 
forward  noe  Goods  or  Commodities  whatsoever  shall  be  Im 
ported  into  or  Exported  out  of  any  Lands  Islelands  Plantations 
or  Territories  to  his  Majesty  belonging  or  in  his  possession  or 
which  may  hereafter  belong  unto  or  be  in  the  possession  of  His 
Majesty  His  Heires  and  Successors  in  Asia  Africa  or  America 
in  any  other  Ship  or  Ships  Vessell  or  Vessells  whatsoever  but  in 
such  Ships  or  Vessells  as  doe  truely  and  without  fraude  belong 
onely  to  the  people  of  England  or  Ireland  Dominion  of  Wales  or 
Towne  of  Berwicke  upon  Tweede,  or  are  of  the  built  of,  and  be 
longing  to  any  of  the  said  Lands  Islands  Plantations  or  Terri 
tories  as  the  Proprietors  and  right  Owners  therof  and  wherof 
the  Master  and  three  fourthes  of  the  Marriners  at  least  are  Eng 
lish  l  under  the  penalty  of  the  Forfeiture  and  Losse  of  all  the 

1  Question  having  arisen  in  regard  to  the  definition  of  English  built  ships 
and  English  mariners  in  this  act,  these  terms  were  further  denned  by  an  act  of 
1662,  14  Car.  II.,  c.  n,  sect.  5:  "And  that  no  Forreign  built  Ship  (that  is  to  say) 
not  built  in  any  of  His  Majesties  Dominions  of  Asia  Africa  or  America  or  other 
then  such  as  shall  (bona  fide)  be  bought  before  .  .  .  [October  i,  1662,]  .  .  . 


i66o]  FIRST   NAVIGATION  ACT  57 

Goods  and  Commodityes  which  shall  be  Imported  into,  or  Ex 
ported  out  of,  any  the  aforesaid  places  in  any  other  Ship  or  Ves- 
sell,  as  alsoe  of  the  Ship  or  Vessell  with  all  its  Guns  Furniture 
Tackle  Ammunition  and  Apparell.  ...  * 

*******  * 

[III.]  And  it  is  further  Enacted  .  .  .  that  noe  Goods  or  Com 
modityes  whatsoever  of  the  growth  production  or  manufacture  of 
Africa  Asia  or  America  or  of  any  part  thereof  ...  be  Imported 
into  England  Ireland  or  Wales  Islands  of  Guernsey  or  Jersey 
or  Towne  of  Berwicke  upon  Tweede  in  any  other  Ship  or  Ships 
Vessell  or  Vessels  whatsoever,  but  in  such  as  doe  truely  and 
without  fraude  belong  onely  to  the  people  of  England  or  Ireland, 
Dominion  of  Wales  or  Towne  of  Berwicke  upon  Tweede  or 
of  the  Lands  Islands  Plantations  or  Territories  in  Asia  Africa 
or  America  to  his  Majesty  belonging  as  the  proprietors  and  right 
owners  therof,  and  wherof  the  Master  and  three  fourthes  at  least 
of  the  Mariners  are  English  under  the  penalty  of  the  forfeiture 
of  all  such  Goods  and  Commodityes,  and  of  the  Ship  or  Vessell 
in  which  they  were  Imported  with  all  her  Guns  Tackle  Furni 
ture  Ammunition  and  Apparell.  .  .  . 

[IV.]  And  it  is  further  Enacted  .  .  .  that  noe  Goods  or  Com 
modityes  that  are  of  forraigne  growth  production  or  manufacture 
and  which  are  to  be  brought  into  England  Ireland  Wales,  the 
Islands  of  Guernsey  &  Jersey  or  Towne  of  Berwicke  upon  Tweede 
in  English  built  shiping,  or  other  shiping  belonging  to  some  of 
the  aforesaid  places,  and  navigated  by  English  Mariners  as 
abovesaid  shall  be  shiped  or  brought  from  any  other  place  or 
Places,  Country  or  Countries  but  onely  from  those  of  their  said 
Growth  Production  or  Manufacture,  or  from  those  Ports  where 
the  said  Goods  and  Commodityes  can  onely  or  are  or  usually 
have  beene  first  shiped  for  transportation  and  from  none  other 
Places  or  Countryes  under  the  penalty  of  the  forfeiture  of  all  such 
of  the  aforesaid  Goods  as  shall  be  Imported  from  any  other  place 

next  ensuing  and  expresly  named  in  the  said  List  shall  enjoye  the  priviledge  of 
a  Ship  belonging  to  England  or  Ireland  although  owned  or  manned  by  English 
(except  such  Ships  only  as  shall  be  taken  at  Sea  by  Letters  of  Mart  or  Reprizal 
and  Condemnation  made  in  the  Court  of  Admiralty  as  lawfull  Prize)  but  all  such 
Ships  shall  be  deemed  as  Aliens  Ships  ...  it  is  to  be  understood  that  any  of 
His  Majesties  Subjects  of  England  Ireland  and  His  Plantations  are  to  bee 
accounted  English  and  no  others.  ..."  —  ED. 


58  FIRST   NAVIGATION  ACT  [1660 

or  Country  contrary  to  the  true  intent  and  meaning  hereof,  as 
alsoe  of  the  ship  in  which  they  were  imported  with  all  her  Guns 
Furniture  Ammunition  Tackle  and  Apparel.  .  .  . 

[VI.]  [Foreign  vessels  excluded  from  the  English  coasting 
trade.] 

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  * 

[VIII.]  And  it  is  further  Enacted  .  .  .  That  noe  Goods  or 
Commodityes  of  the  Growth  Production  or  Manufacture  of  Mus 
covy  or  of  any  the  Countryes  ...  to  the  Great  Duke  or  Em- 
porer  of  Muscovia  or  Russia  belonging,  As  alsoe  that  noe  sorts 
of  Masts  Timber  or  boards  noe  forraigne  Salt  Pitch  Tar  Rozin 
Hempe  or  Flax  Raizins  Figs  Prunes  Olive  Oyles  noe  [sort *]  of 
Corne  or  Graine  Sugar  Pot-ashes  Wines  Vinegar  or  Spirits  called 
Aqua-vite  or  Brandy  Wine  shall  from  and  after  .  .  .  [April  i, 
1661]  .  .  .  be  imported  into  England  Ireland  Wales  or  Towne 
of  Berwicke  upon  Tweede  in  any  Ship  or  Ships  Vessel  or  Vessels 
whatsoever  but  in  such  as  doe  truely  and  without  fraude  belong 
to  the  people  therof  or  of  some  of  them  as  the  true  Owners  and 
proprietors  therof,  and  wherof  the  Master  and  Three  Fourths 
of  the  Mariners  at  least  are  English,  and  that  noe  Currants,  nor 
Commodityes  of  the  growth  production  or  Manufacture  of  any 
the  Countryes  ...  to  the  Othoman  or  Turkish  Empire  belong 
ing  shall  from  and  after  .  .  .  [September  i,  1661]  ...  be  im 
ported  into  any  the  forementioned  places  in  any  Ship  or  Vessel, 
but  which  is  of  English  built  and  navigated  as  aforesaid  and  in 
noe  other,  except  onely  such  forraigne  ships  and  vessels  as  are  of 
the  built  of  that  Country  or  place  of  which  the  said  Goods  are 
the  growth  production  or  Manufacture  respectively,  or  of  such 
Port  where  the  said  Goods  can  onely  be  or  most  usually  are  first 
shiped  for  transportation,  and  wherof  the  Master  and  three 
Fourths  of  the  Mariners  at  least  are  of  the  said  Country  [and  2] 
place  under  the  penalty  and  forfeiture  of  Ship  and  Goods.  .  .  . 
******** 

[XVIII.]  And  it  is  further  Enacted  .  .  .  That  from  and  after 
.  .  .  [April  i,  1661]  .  .  .  noe  Sugars  Tobaccho  Cotton  Wool  In- 
dicoes  Ginger  Fustick  or  other  dyeing  wood  of  the  Growth  Pro- 

1  sorts  in  the  original  Ms. 

2  or  in  the  original  Ms. 


i66o]  FIRST   NAVIGATION  ACT  59 

duction  or  Manufacture  of  any  English  Plantations  in  America 
Asia  or  Africa  shall  be  shiped  carryed  conveyed  or  transported 
from  any  of  the  said  English  Plantations  to  any  Land  Island 
Territory  Dominion  Port  or  place  whatsoever  other  then  to  such 
[  *]  English  Plantations  as  doe  belong  to  His  Majesty  ...  or 
to  the  Kingdome  of  England  or  Ireland  or  Principality  of  Wales 
or  Towne  of  Berwicke  upon  Tweede  there  to  be  laid  en  shore 
under  the  penalty  of  the  Forfeiture  of  the  said  Goods  or  the  full 
value  thereof,  as  alsoe  of  the  Ship  with  all  her  Guns  Tackle 
Apparel  Ammunition  and  Furniture.  .  .  . 

[XIX.]  And  be  it  further  Enacted  .  .  .  That  for  every  Ship  or 
Vessel  which  from  and  after  .  .  .  [December  25,  1660]  .  .  .  shall 
set  saile  out  of,  or  from  England  Ireland  Wales  or  Towne  of  Ber 
wicke  upon  Tweede  for  any  English  Plantation  in  America  Asia 
[or]  Africa  sufficient  bond  shall  be  given  with  one  surety  to  the 
cheife  Officers  of  the  Custome  house,  of  such  Port  or  place  from 
whence  the  said  Ship  shall  set  saile  .  .  .  That  in  case  the  said 
Ship  or  Vessel  shall  loade  any  of  the  said  Commodityes  at  any 
of  the  said  English  Plantations,  that  the  same  Commodityes  shall 
be  by  the  said  ship  brought  to  some  Port  of  England  Ireland 
Wales,  or  to  the  Port  or  Towne  of  Berwicke  upon  Tweede  and 
shall  there  unload  and  put  on  shore  the  same,  the  danger  of  the 
Seas  onely  excepted,  And  for  all  ships  coming  from  any  other 
Port  or  Place  to  any  of  the  aforesaid  plantations  who  by  this 
Act  are  permited  to  trade  there,  that  the  Governour  of  such 
English  plantation  shall  before  the  said  Ship  or  Vessel  be  per 
mited  to  loade  on  board  any  of  the  said  Commodityes  take  Bond 
in  manner  and  to  the  value  aforesaid  for  each  respective  Ship 
or  Vessel,  That  such  Ship  or  Vessell  shall  carry  all  the  aforesaid 
Goods  that  shall  be  laden  on  board  in  the  said  ship  to  some 
other  of  His  Majestyes  English  Plantations,  or  to  England  Ire 
land  Wales  or  Towne  of  Berwicke  upon  Tweede  .  .  .  [under 
penalty  of  forfeiture  of  the  vessel,  &c.].  .  .-4  . 

1  The  Ms.  inserts  other. 


60  CHARTER   OF   CONNECTICUT     [April  23 /May  3 

No.    1 6.     Charter  of  Connecticut 

April  as/May  3,   1662 

IN  May,  1661,  the  General  Court  of  Connecticut  appointed  a  committee  to 
prepare  a  petition  for  a  royal  charter.  Governor  Winthrop,  to  whom  the  nego 
tiations  were  intrusted,  had  the  influential  support  of  Lord  Say  and  Sele  and 
the  Earl  of  Manchester;  and  in  April,  1662,  the  charter  was  granted.  The 
boundaries,  as  denned  by  the  charter,  included  New  Haven.  The  delay  of 
the  latter  colony  in  proclaiming  Charles  II.,  and  its  tender  treatment  of  the 
regicides,  had  brought  it  into  disfavor  with  the  king;  and  it  now,  under  the 
lead  of  Davenport,  resisted  annexation  and  appealed  to  the  Commissioners 
of  the  United  Colonies.  But  the  conquest  of  New  Netherland  by  the  English, 
in  1664,  and  the  grant  to  the  Duke  of  York  of  territory  as  far  east  as  the 
Connecticut  River,  hastened  submission;  and  in  December  of  the  latter  year 
a  committee  was  appointed  to  arrange  for  the  union.  A  quo  -warranto  was 
issued  against  the  Connecticut  charter  in  1684,  but  judgment  was  not  en 
tered.  When  Andros  demanded  the  charter,  in  1687,  it  was  secreted,  and 
remained  hidden  until  1689,  when,  upon  the  deposition  of  Andros,  govern 
ment  under  the  charter  was  resumed.  The  State  constitution  of  1776  con 
tinued  the  charter  in  force,  with  a  few  changes,  and  it  remained  the  funda 
mental  law  of  Connecticut  until  the  adoption  of  a  new  constitution  in  1818. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Connecticut  Colonial  Records,  II.,  3-11.'  Win- 
throp's  instructions,  the  address  to  the  King,  and  the  letter  to  the  Earl  of 
Manchester,  are  in  ib.,  I.,  579-585.  For  the  proceedings  in  New  Haven, 
see  the  New  Haven  Colonial  Records,  1653-1665,  passim. 

Charles  tjje  &ecanfo,  [&c.]  Whereas  .  .  .  We  have  byn  in 
formed  by  the  humble  Petition  of  our  Trusty  and  welbeloved 
John  Winthrop,  John  Mason,  Samuell  Willis,  Henry  Clerke, 
Mathew  Allen,  John  Tappen,  Nathan  Gold,  Richard  Treate, 
Richard  Lord,  Henry  Woolicot,  John  Talcott,  Daniell  Clerke, 
John  Ogden,  Thomas  Wells,  Obedias  Brewen,  John  Clerke, 
Anthony  Haukins,  John  Deming,  and  Mathew  Camfeild,  being 
Persons  Principally  interested  in  our  Colony  or  Plantation  of 
Conecticutt  in  New  England,  that  the  same  Colony  or  the  greatest 
parte  thereof  was  purchased  and  obteyned  for  greate  and  valu 
able  considerations,  And  some  other  parte  thereof  gained  by  Con 
quest  and  with  much  difficulty,  and  att  the  onely  endeavours, 
expence  and  Charge  of  them  and  their  Associates,  and  those 
under  whome  they  Clayme,  Subdued  and  improved,  and  thereby 
become  a  considerable  enlargement  and  addition  of  our  Do- 


1662]  CHARTER   OF   CONNECTICUT  6l 

minions  and  interest  there,  —  Now  Know  yea,  that  .  .  .  wee 
...  by  theis  presents  .  .  .  Doe  Ordeine,  Constitute  and  De 
clare  That  they,  the  said  John  Winthrop  .  .  .  [and  others]  .  .  . ; 
and  all  such  others  as  now  are  or  hereafter  shall  bee  Admitted 
and  made  free  of  the  Company  and  Society  of  our  Collony  of 
Conecticut  in  America,  shall  .  .  .  bee  one  Body  Corporate  and 
Pollitique  in  fact  and  name,  by  the  Name  of  Governour  and 
Company  of  the  English  Collony  of  Conecticut  in  New  England 
in  America;  .  .  .  And  further,  wee  .  .  .  Doe  Declare  .  .  .  that 
for  the  better  ordering  and  manageing  of  the  affaires  and  busi- 
nesse  of  the  said  Company  and  their  Successors,  there  shall  be 
one  Governour,  one  Deputy  Governour  and  Twelve  Assistants, 
to  bee  from  tyme  to  tyme  Constituted,  Elected  and  Chosen  out 
of  the  Freemen  of  the  said  Company  for  the  tyme  being,  in  such 
manner  and  forme  as  hereafter  in  these  presents  is  expressed; 
which  said  Officers  shall  apply  themselves  to  take  care  for  the 
best  disposeing  and  Ordering  of  the  Generall  busines  and  affaires 
of  and  concerning  the  lands  and  hereditaments  herein  after 
mentioned  to  bee  graunted,  and  the  Plantation  thereof  and  the 
Government  of  the  People  thereof.  And  .  .  .  Wee  doe  .  .  .  ap 
point  the  aforesaid  John  Winthrop  to  bee  the  first  and  present 
Governour  of  the  said  Company;  And  the  said  John  Mason  to 
bee  the  Deputy  Governour;  And  the  said  Samuell  Willis,  Mathew 
Allen,  Nathan  Gold,  Henry  Clerke,  Richard  Treat,  John  Ogden, 
Thomas  Tappen,  John  Talcott,  Thomas  Wells,  Henry  Woolcot, 
Richard  Lord  and  Daniell  Clerke  to  bee  the  Twelve  present 
Assistants  of  the  said  Company ;  .  .  .  And  further,  wee  .  .  .  Doe 
Ordaine  .  .  .  that  the  Governour  of  the  said  Company  for  the 
tyme  being,  or,  in  his  absence  by  occasion  of  sicknes,  or  other 
wise  by  his  leave  or  permission,  the  Deputy  Governour  .  .  . , 
shall  and  may  .  .  .  give  Order  for  the  assembling  of  the  said 
Company  and  calling  them  together  to  Consult  and  advise  of 
the  businesse  and  Affaires  of  the  said  Company,  And  that  for 
ever  hereafter,  Twice  in  every  yeare,  (That  is  to  say,)  on  every 
second  Thursday  in  October  and  on  every  second  Thursday  in 
May,  or  oftener,  in  Case  it  shall  be  requisite,  The  Assistants  and 
freemen  of  the  said  Company,  or  such  of  them  (not  exceeding 
twoe  Persons  from  each  place,  Towne  or  Citty)  whoe  shall  bee 
from  tyme  to  tyme  thereunto  Elected  or  Deputed  by  the  major 


62  CHARTER   OF   CONNECTICUT     [April  23/May  5 

parte  of  the  freemen  of  the  respective  Townes,  Cittyes  and  Places 
for  which  they  shall  bee  soe  elected  or  Deputed,  shall  have  a 
generall  meeting  or  Assembly,  then  and  their  to  Consult  and 
advise  in  and  about  the  Affaires  and  businesse  of  the  said  Com 
pany;  And  that  the  Governour,  or  .  .  .  Deputy  Go vernour  .  .  . , 
and  such  of  the  Assistants  and  freemen  of  the  said  Company  as 
shall  be  soe  Elected  or  Deputed  and  bee  present  att  such  meeting 
or  Assembly,  or  the  greatest  number  of  them,  whereof  the  Gov 
ernour  or  Deputy  Governour  and  Six  of  the  Assistants,  at  least, 
to  bee  Seaven,  shall  be  called  the  Generall  Assembly,  and  shall 
have  full  power  and  authority  to  alter  and  change  their  dayes  and 
tymes  of  meeting  or  Generall  Assemblies  for  Electing  the  Gov 
ernour,  Deputy  Governour  and  Assistants  or  other  Officers,  or 
any  other  Courts,  Assemblies  or  meetings,  and  to  Choose,  Nomi 
nate  and  appoint  such  and  soe  many  other  Persons  as  they  shall 
thinke  fitt  and  shall  bee  willing  to  accept  the  same,  to  bee  free 
of  the  said  Company  and  Body  Politique,  and  them  into  the  same 
to  Admitt  and  to  Elect,  and  Constitute  such  Officers  as  they  shall 
thinke  fitt  and  requisite  for  the  Ordering,  mannageing  and  dis- 
poseing  of  the  Affaires  of  the  said  Governour  and  Company  and 
their  Successors.  And  wee  doe  hereby  .  .  .  Ordeine,  that  once 
in  the  yeare  .  .  . ,  namely,  the  said  Second  Thursday  in  May, 
the  Governour,  Deputy  Governour  and  Assistants  of  the  said 
Company  and  other  Officers  of  the  said  Company,  or  such  of 
them  as  the  said  Generall  Assembly  shall  thinke  fitt,  shall  bee, 
in  the  said  Generall  Court  and  Assembly  to  bee  held  from  that 
day  or  tyme,  newly  Chosen  for  the  yeare  ensuing,  by  such  greater 
Dart  of  the  said  Company  for  the  tyme  being  then  and  there 
present.  .  .  .  And  Knowe  yee  further,  That  Wee  .  .  .  Doe 
.  .  .  Graunt  .  .  .  unto  the  said  Governor  and  Company  and 
their  Successors,  All  that  parte  of  our  Dominions  in  Newe  Eng 
land  in  America  bounded  on  the  East  by  Norrogancett  River, 
comonly  called  Norrogancett  Bay,  where  the  said  River  falleth 
into  the  Sea,  and  on  the  North  by  the  lyne  of  the  Massachusetts 
Plantation,  and  on  the  South  by  the  Sea,  and  in  longitude  as  the 
lyne  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony,  runinge  from  East  to  West, 
(that  is  to  say,)  from  the  said  Narrogancett  Bay  on  the  East  to 
the  South  Sea  on  the  West  parte,  with  the  Islands  thereunto 
adjoyneinge.  .  .  . 


i662/3]  FIRST   CHARTER   OF   CAROLINA  63 

No.    17.     First  Charter  of  Carolina 

March  24/April  3,   1662/3 

THE  region  later  known  as  Carolina  had  been  included  in  the  original 
Virginia  grant  of  1606;  but  no  permanent  settlements  had  been  made,  and 
on  the  revocation  of  the  third  Virginia  charter,  in  1624,  the  territory  became 
subject  to  the  disposal  of  the  Crown.  In  1629,  Sir  Robert  Heath,  then  attor 
ney-general,  received  from  Charles  I.  a  grant  of  the  region  south  of  Vir 
ginia,  between  31°  and  36°  north  latitude,  under  the  name  of  Carolana; 
but  no  use  was  made  of  the  grant,  and  no  further  attempt  was  made  to  de 
velop  the  country  until  the  grant  of  a  charter  to  Clarendon  and  his  associates, 
in  March,  1662/3.  An  order  in  council  of  Aug.  12/22,  1663,  declared  the 
Heath  patent  void  for  non-user;  but  claims  under  it  continued  to  be  urged 
until  1768,  when  the  descendants  of  Daniel  Coxe,  of  New  Jersey,  to  whom 
the  patent  had  been  transferred  in  1696,  received  from  the  Crown  a  grant  of 
100,000  acres  of  land  in  New  York  in  satisfaction  of  their  claim. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Statutes  at  Large  of  South  Carolina  (Cooper's  ed., 
1836),  I.,  22-31.  The  Heath  grant  is  in  Colonial  Records  of  North  Carolina, 
I.,  1-13.  For  the  documentary  sources  see,  beside  the  Records,  Carroll's 
Historical  Collections  of  South  Carolina;  Sainsbury's  Calendar  of  State 
Papers,  Colonial,  V.,  VI.  On  the  early  history  of  South  Carolina,  Mc- 
Crady's  History  of  South  Carolina  under  the  Proprietary  Government  is  of 
prime  importance. 

CHARLES  THE  SECOND,   [&c.].  .  .  . 

i st.  WHEREAS  our  right  trusty,  and  right  well  beloved  Cousins 
and  Counsellors,  Edward,  Earl  of  Clarendon,  our  high  Chan 
cellor  of  England,  and  George,  Duke  of  Albemarle,  Master  of 
our  horse  and  Captain  General  of  all  our  Forces,  our  right  trusty 
and  well  beloved  William  Lord  Craven,  John  Lord  Berkley,  our 
right  trusty  and  well  beloved  Counsellor,  Anthony  Lord  Ashley, 
Chancellor  of  our  Exchequer,  Sir  George  Carteret,  Knt.  and 
Baronet,  Vice  Chamberlain  of  our  household,  and  our  trusty  and 
well  beloved  Sir  William  Berkley,  Knt.  and  Sir  John  Colleton, 
Knight  and  Baronet,  .  .  .  have  humbly  besought  leave  of  us  by 
their  industry  and  charge,  to  transport  and  make  an  ample  Colony 
of  our  subjects,  natives  of  our  Kingdom  of  England,  and  else 
where  within  our  Dominions,  unto  a  certain  country  hereafter 
described,  in  the  parts  of  America  not  yet  cultivated  or  planted, 
and  only  inhabited  by  some  barbarous  people,  who  have  no 
knowledge  of  Almighty  God. 


64  FIRST   CHARTER   OF   CAROLINA      [March  24/April  3 

2d.  And  whereas  the  said  Edward,  Earl  of  Clarendon  .  .  . 
[and  others]  .  .  .  have  humbly  besought  us  to  ...  grant  .  .  . 
unto  them  and  their  heirs,  the  said  country,  with  Priviledges  and 
Jurisdictions  requisite  for  the  good  government  and  safety  thereof : 
KNOW  YE,  therefore,  that  we,  favouring  the  pious  and  noble  pur 
pose  of  the  said  Edward  Earl  of  Clarendon  .  .  .  [and  others] 
; «...  .  by  this  our  present  Charter  ...  do  Give,  Grant  and  Con 
firm  unto  the  said  Edward  Earl  of  Clarendon  .  .  .  [and  others] 
.  .  .  all  that  territory  or  tract  of  ground,  scituate,  lying  and 
being  within  our  dominions  of  America,  extending  from  the 
North  end  of  the  Island  called  Lucke-Island,  which  lieth  in  the 
Southern  Virginia  Seas,  and  within  six  and  thirty  degres  of 
the  Northern  Latitude,  and  to  the  West  as  far  as  the  South  Seas, 
and  so  Southerly  as  far  as  the  river  St.  Matthias,  which  bordereth 
upon  the  coast  of  Florida,  and  within  one  and  thirty  degrees  of 
Northern  Latitude,  and  so  west  in  a  direct  line  as  far  as  the  South 
seas  aforesaid.  .  .  . 

3d.  And  furthermore,  the  Patronage  and  Advowsons  of  all  the 
Churches  and  Chapels,  which  as  Christian  Religion  shall  increase 
within  the  Country  .  .  .  shall  happen  hereafter  to  be  erected, 
together  with  license  and  power  to  build  and  found  Churches, 
Chappels  and  Oratories,  in  convenient  and  fit  places,  within  the 
said  bounds  and  limits,  and  to  cause  them  to  be  dedicated  and 
consecrated  according  to  the  Ecclesiastical  laws  of  our  Kingdom 
of  England,  together  with  all  and  singular  the  like,  and  as  ample 
Rights,  Jurisdictions,  Priviledges,  Prerogatives,  Royalties,  Liber 
ties,  Immunities  and  Franchises  of  what  kind  soever,  within  the 
Countries,  Isles,  Islets,  and  Limits  aforesaid. 

4th.  To  have,  use,  exercise  and  enjoy,  and  in  as  ample  manner 
as  any  Bishop  of  Durham  in  our  Kingdom  of  England,  ever  here 
tofore  have  held,  used  or  enjoyed,  or  of  right  ought  or  could 
have,  use,  or  enjoy.  And  them,  the  said  Edward  Earl  of  Claren 
don  .  .  .  [and  others]  .  .  .  their  heirs  and  assigns,  We  do  by  these 
Presents  .  .  .  constitute,  the  true  and  Absolute  Lords  Proprie 
tors  of  the  Country  aforesaid,  and  of  all  other  the  premises; 
saving  always  the  faith,  allegiance  and  sovereign  dominion  due 
to  us  ...  for  the  same,  and  saving  also  the  right,  title,  and 
interest  of  all  and  every  our  subjects  of  the  English  nation,  which 
are  now  planted  within  the  limits  and  bounds  aforesaid,  (if  any 


1662/3]  FIRST   CHARTER   OF   CAROLINA  65 

be),  .  .  .  yielding  and  paying  yearly  to  us  ...  for  the  same, 
the  yearly  rent  of  twenty  marks  of  lawful  money  of  England  .  ;  . 
and  also  the  fourth  part  of  all  gold  or  silver  ore,  which,  within 
the  limits  aforesaid,  shall  from  time  to  time  happen  to  be  found. 

5th.  And  that  the  country,  thus  by  us  granted  and  described, 
may  be  dignified  by  us  with  as  large  Titles  and  Priviledges  as  any 
other  part  of  our  Dominions  and  territories  in  that  region,  Know 
ye,  that  we  ...  do  ...  erect,  incorporate  and  ordain  the  same 
into  a  Province,  and  call  it  the  Province  of  Carolina.  [The  pro 
prietors  may  make  laws  with  the  assent  of  the  freemen.] 

6th.  [The  proprietors  may  make  ordinances;]  so  as  such  Ordi 
nances  be  reasonable,  and  not  repugnant  or  contrary,  but  as  near 
as  may  be,  agreeable  to  the  laws  and  statutes  of  this  our  Kingdom 
of  England,  and  so  as  the  same  ordinances  do  not  extend  to  the 
binding,  charging,  or  taking  away  of  the  right  or  interest  of  any 
person  or  persons,  in  their  freehold,  goods  or  chattels  whatsoever. 
******** 

9th.  Provided  nevertheless,  .  .  .  and  we  ...  by  these  pres 
ents  ...  do  give  and  grant  unto  the  said  Edward  Earl  of  Claren 
don  .  .  .  [and  others]  ....  full  and  free  license,  liberty,  and 
authority,  at  any  time  or  times,  from  and  after  the  feast  of  St. 
Michael  the  Arch-Angel  .  .  .  [1667]  ...  as  well  to  import, 
and  bring  into  any  of  our  Dominions  from  the  said  Province  of 
Carolina,  or  any  part  thereof,  the  several  goods  and  commodities, 
hereinafter  mentioned,  that  is  to  say,  silks,  wines,  currants, 
raisins,  capers,  wax,  almonds,  oyl,  and  olives,  without  paying  or 
answering  to  us  ...  any  custom,  import,  or  other  duty,  for  and 
in  respect  thereof  for  and  during  the  term  and  space  of  seven 
years,  to  commence  and  be  accompted,  from  and  after  the  first 
importation  of  four  tons  of  any  the  said  goods,  in  any  one  bot 
tom,  ship  or  vessel  from  the  said  Province,  into  any  of  our 
Dominions;  as  also  to  export  and  carry  out  of  any  of  our  Do 
minions,  into  the  said  Province  of  Carolina,  custom  free,  all 
sorts  of  tools  which  shall  be  usefull  or  necessary  for  the  planters 
there,  in  the  accommodation  and  improvement  of  the  premises, 
any  thing  before,  in  these  presents  contained,  or  any  law,  act, 
statute,  prohibition,  or  other  matter  ...  to  the  contrary,  in  any 
wise  notwithstanding. 

******** 


66  CHARTER    OF   RHODE   ISLAND  [July  8/i& 

1 8th.  And  because  it  may  happen  that  some  of  the  people  and 
inhabitants  of  the  said  Province,  cannot  in  their  private  opinions, 
conform  to  the  publick  exercise  of  religion,  according  to  the 
liturgy  form  and  ceremonies  of  the  Church  of  England,  or  take 
and  subscribe  the  oath  and  articles,  made  and  established  in  that 
behalf,  and  for  that  the  same,  by  reason  of  the  remote  distances 
of  these  places,  will,  we  hope,  be  no  breach  of  the  unity  and  uni 
formity  established  in  this  nation ;  ...  we  do  ...  grant  unto  the 
said  Edward,  Earl  of  Clarendon  .  .  .  [and  others]  .  .  .  full  and 
free  license,  liberty  and  authority,  by  such  legal  ways  and  means 
as  they  shall  think  fit,  to  give  and  grant  unto  such  person  or  per 
sons,  inhabiting  and  being  within  the  said  Province,  or  any  part 
thereof,  who  really  in  their  judgments,  and  for  conscience  sake, 
cannot  or  shall  not  conform  to  the  said  liturgy  and  ceremonies, 
and  take  and  subscribe  the  oaths  and  articles  aforesaid,  or  any  of 
them,  such  indulgencies  and  dispensations  in  that  behalf,  for  and 
during  such  time  and  times,  and  with  such  limitations  and  re 
strictions  as  they  .  .  .  shall  in  their  discretion  think  fit  and 
reasonable;  and  with  this  express  proviso,  and  limitation  also, 
that  such  person  and  persons,  to  whom  such  indulgencies  and 
dispensations  shall  be  granted  as  aforesaid,  do  and  shall,  from 
time  to  time  declare  and  continue,  all  fidelity,  loyalty  and  obedi 
ence  to  us,  our  heirs  and  successors,  and  be  subject  and  obedient 
to  all  'other  the  laws,  ordinances,  and  constitutions  of  the  said 
Province,  in  all  matters  whatsoever,  as  well  ecclesiastical  as  civil, 
and  do  nc^  in  any  wise  disturb  the  peace  and  safety  thereof,  or 
scandalize  or  reproach  the  said  liturgy,  forms,  and  ceremonies, 
or  any  thing  relating  thereunto,  or  any  person  or  persons  whatso 
ever,  for  or  in  respect  of  his  or  their  use  or  exercise  thereof,  or 

his  or  their  obedience  and  conformity,  thereunto. 

#  *  *  *  *  '         *  *  * 


No.  1 8.     Charter  of  Rhode  Island  and 
Providence  Plantations 

July  8/18,  1663 

IN  January,  1661,  John  Clarke,  sometime  agent  for  Rhode  Island  in  Eng 
land,  presented  a  petition  for  a  royal  charter  for  that  colony.     The  prompt- 


CHARTER    OF   RHODE   ISLAND  67 

ness  of  Rhode  Island  in  proclaiming  Charles  II.,  and  the  willingness  of 
the  king  to  restrain  the  ambitions  of  Massachusetts,  caused  the  petition  to 
be  favorably  regarded.  The  charter  of  Connecticut,  however,  in  1662,  in 
cluded  within  the  limits  of  that  colony  certain  territory  on  Narragansett  Bay 
long  in  dispute  between  Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island,  and  now  held  by 
the  Atherton  Company,  a  land-speculating  organization  of  which  Winthrop 
was  a  member.  An  effort  on  the  part  of  Rhode  Island,  in  1660,  to  come  to 
terms  with  this  company  had  been  unsuccessful.  Clarke  entered  a  protest 
against  the  Connecticut  grant;  but,  by  agreement  with  Winthrop,  the  con 
troversy  was  presently  referred  to  arbitrators.  The  decision,  in  April,  1663, 
was  favorable  to  Rhode  Island,  and  in  July  the  charter  was  issued.  With 
the  exception  of  the  brief  period  of  Andros's  administration,  1686-1689, 
during  which  the  government  was  carried  on  by  the  towns,  the  charter  con 
tinued  to  be  the  fundamental  law  of  Rhode  Island  until  the  adoption  of  a 
State  constitution  in  1842. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Rhode  Island  Colonial  Records,  II.,  3-21. 

Charles  tf)e  Second,  [  &c.]  .  .  .  :  OTjcreas  foee  have  been  in 
formed,  by  the  humble  petition  of  our  trustie  and  well  beloved 
subject,  John  Clarke,  on  the  behalfe  of  Benjamine  Arnold,  Wil 
liam  Brenton,  William  Codington,  Nicholas  Easton,  William 
Boulston,  John  Porter,  John  Smith,  Samuell  Groton,  John  Weeks, 
Roger  Williams,  Thomas  Olnie,  Gregorie  Dexter,  John  Cogeshall, 
Joseph  Clarke,  Randall  Holden,  John  Greene,  John  Roome, 
Samuell  Wildbore,  William  Ffield,  James  Barker,  Richard  Tew, 
Thomas  Harris,  and  William  Dyre,  and  the  rest  of  the  purchasers 
and  ffree  inhabitants  of  our  island,  called  2£ijotic-£0larrtJ,  and  the 
rest  of  the  colonie  of  Providence  Plantations,  in  the  Narragansett 
Bay,  in  New-England,  in  America,  that  they,  pursueing,  with 
peaceable  and  loyall  mindes,  their  sober,  serious  and  religious 
intentions,  of  godlie  edineing  themselves,  and  one  another,  in 
the  holie  Christian  ffaith  and  worshipp  as  they  were  perswaded: 
together  with  the  gaineing  over  and  conversione  of  the  poore 
ignorant  Indian  natives,  in  those  partes  of  America,  to  the  sincere 
professione  and  obedienc  of  the  same  ffaith  and  worship,  did, 
not  onlie  by  the  consent  and  good  encouragement  of  our  royall 
progenitors,  transport  themselves  out  of  this  kingdome  of  Eng 
land  into  America,  but  alsoe,  since  their  arrivall  there,  after  their 
first  settlement  amongst  other  our  subjects  in  those  parts,  ffor 
the  avoideing  of  discorde,  and  those  manie  evills  which  were 
likely  to  ensue  upon  some  of  those  oure  subjects  not  beinge  able 
to  beare,  in  these  remote  partes,  theire  different  apprehensiones 


68  CHARTER    OF   RHODE   ISLAND  [July8/i8 

in  religious  concernments,  and  in  pursueance  of  the  afforesayd 
ends,  did  once  againe  leave  theire  desireable  stationes  and  habi- 
tationes,  and  with  excessive  labor  and  travell,  hazard  and  charge, 
did  transplant  themselves  into  the  middest  of  the  Indian  natives, 
who,  as  wee  are  infformed,  are  the  most  potent  princes  and  people 
of  all  that  country;  where,  by  the  good  Providence  of  God,  from 
whome  the  Plantationes  have  taken  their  name,  upon  theire 
labour  and  industrie,  they  have  not  onlie  byn  preserved  to  ad 
miration,  but  have  increased  and  prospered,  and  are  seized  and 
possessed,  by  purchase  and  consent  of  the  said  natives,  to  their 
ffull  content,  of  such  lands,  islands,  rivers,  harbours  and  roades, 
as  are  verie  convenient,  both  for  plantationes  and  alsoe  for  build- 
inge  of  shipps,  suplye  of  pype-staves,  and  other  merchandize; 
and  which  lyes  verie  commodious,  in  manie  respects,  for  com 
merce,  and  to  accommodate  oure  southern  plantationes,  and  may 
much  advance  the  trade  of  this  oure  realme,  and  greatlie  enlarge 
the  territories  thereof;  they  haveinge,  by  neare  neighbourhoode 
to  and  friendlie  societie  with  the  greate  bodie  of  the  Narragansett 
Indians,  given  them  encouragement,  of  theire  owne  accorde,  to 
subject  themselves,  theire  people  and  landes,  unto  us;  whereby, 
as  is  hoped,  there  may,  in  due  tyme,  by  the  blessing  of  God  upon 
theire  endeavours,  bee  layd  a  sure  ffoundation  of  happinesse  to 
all  America :  ^Inti  fnJjmas,  in  theire  humble  addresse,  they  have 
ffreely  declared,  that  it  is  much  on  their  hearts  (if  they  may  be 
permitted),  to  hold  forth  a  livelie  experiment,  that  a  most  flour 
ishing  civill  state  may  stand  and  best  bee  maintained,  and  that 
among  our  English  subjects,  with  a  full  libertie  in  religious  con- 
cernements;  and  that  true  pietye  rightly  grounded  upon  gospell 
principles,  will  give  the  best  and  greatest  security  to  sover- 
eignetye,  and  will  lay  in  the  hearts  of  men  the  strongest  obliga 
tions  to  true  loyaltye :  Noto  kn0irr  gee,  that  wee  beinge  willinge  to 
encourage  the  hopefull  undertakeinge  of  oure  sayd  loyall  and 
loveinge  subjects,  and  to  secure  them  in  the  free  exercise  and 
enjoyment  of  all  theire  civill  and  religious  rights,  appertaining 
to  them,  as  our  loveing  subjects ;  and  to  preserve  unto  them  that 
libertye,  in  the  true  Christian  ffaith  and  worshipp  of  God,  which 
they  have  sought  with  soe  much  travaill,  and  with  peaceable 
myndes,  and  loyall  subjectione  to  our  royall  progenitors  and  our 
selves,  to  enjoye;  and  because  some  of  the  people  and  inhab- 


1663]  CHARTER   OF   RHODE   ISLAND  69 

itants  of  the  same  colonie  cannot,  in  theire  private  opinions, 
conforme  to  the  publique  exercise  of  religion,  according  to  the 
litturgy,  formes  and  ceremonyes  of  the  Church  of  England,  or 
take  or  subscribe  the  oaths  and  articles  made  and  established  in 
.  that  behalfe ;  and  for  that  the  same,  by  reason  of  the  remote  dis 
tances  of  those  places,  will  (as  wee  hope)  bee  noe  breach  of 
the  unitie  and  unifformitie  established  in  this  nation:  .  .  .  doe 
hereby  .  .  .  declare,  That  our  royall  will  and  pleasure  is,  that 
noe  person  within  the  sayd  colonye,  at  any  tyme  hereafter,  shall 
bee  any  wise  molested,  punished,  disquieted,  or  called  in  question, 
for  any  differences  in  opinione  in  matters  of  religion,  and  doe  not 
actually  disturb  the  civill  peace  of  our  sayd  colony;  but  that  all 
and  everye  person  and  persons  may,  from  tyme  to  tyme,  and  at 
all  tymes  hereafter,  freelye  and  fullye  have  and  enjoye  his  and 
theire  owne  judgments  and  consciences,  in  matters  of  religious 
concernments,  throughout  the  tract  of  lande  hereafter  mentioned; 
they  behaving  themselves  peaceablie  and  quietlie,  and  not  useing 
this  libertie  to  lycentiousnesse  and  profanenesse,  nor  to  the  civill 
injurye  or  outward  disturbeance  of  others;  any  la  we,  statute,  or 
clause,  therein  contayned,  or  to  bee  contayned,  usage  or  custome 
of  this  realme,  to  the  contrary  hereof,  in  any  wise,  notwithstanding. 
And  that  they  may  bee  in  the  better  capacity  to  defend  them 
selves,  in  theire  just  rights  and  libertyes  against  all  the  enemies 
of  the  Christian  ffaith,  and  others,  in  all  respects,  wee  .  .  .  further 
.  .  .  declare,  That  they  shall  have  and  enjoye  the  benefitt  of  our 
late  act  of  indempnity  and  ffree  pardon,  as  the  rest  of  our  sub 
jects  in  other  our  dominions  and  territoryes  have;  and  to  create 
and  make  them  a  bodye  politique  or  corporate,  with  the  powers 
and  priviledges  hereinafter  mentioned.  And  accordingely  .  .  . 
fojee  .  .  .  doe  ordeyne,  constitute  and  declare,  That  they,  the  sayd 
William  Brenton  .  .  .  [and  others]  .  .  .  and  all  such  others 
as  now  are,  or  hereafter  shall  bee  admitted  and  made  ffree  of  the 
company  and  societie  of  our  collonie  of  Providence  Plantations, 
in  the  Narragansett  Bay,  in  New-England,  shall  bee,  from  tyme 
to  tyme,  and  forever  hereafter,  a  bodie  corporate  and  politique, 
...  by  the  name  of  Cfje  (governor  anti  Compang  of  tfjc  3£mjlt0!j 
(Mottie  of  3&fjaoe-30lanto  ano  ^robttjence  plantations,  in  Nefo- 
3EngIantJ,  in  America.  .  .  ,  $totJ  further,  wee  .  .  .  doe  declare 
.  .  .  that  .  .  .  there  shall  bee  one  Governour,  one  Deputie- 


70  CHARTER   OF   RHODE    ISLAND  [July  8/iS 

Governour  and  ten  Assistants,  to  bee  from  tyme  to  tyme  .  .  . 
chosen,  out  of  the  freemen  of  the  sayd  Company,  for  the  tyme 
beinge,  in  such  manner  and  fforme  as  is  hereafter  in  these  presents 
expressed;  .  .  .  '•UnlJ  .  .  .  wee  doe  .  .  .  apoynt  the  aforesayd 
Benedict  Arnold  to  bee  the  first  and  present  Governor  of  the 
sayd  Company,  and  the  sayd  William  Brenton  to  bee  the  Deputy- 
Governor,  and  the  sayd  William  Boulston,  John  Porter,  Roger 
Williams,  Thomas  Olnie,  John  Smith,  John  Greene,  John  Coge- 
shall,  James  Barker,  William  Ffeild,  and  Joseph  Clarke,  to  bee 
the  tenn  present  Assistants  of  the  sayd  Companye.  .  .  .  &ttti 
furtfjn*,  wee  .  .  .  doe  ordeyne  .  .  .  that  the  Governor  of  the 
sayd  Company,  for  the  tyme  being,  or,  in  his  absence,  .  .  .  the 
Deputy-Governor,  .  .  .  shall  and  may,  ffrom  tyme  to  tyme,  upon 
all  occasions,  give  order  ffor  the  assemblinge  of  the  sayd  Company, 
and  callinge  them  together,  to  consult  and  advise  of  the  businesse 
and  affaires  of  the  sayd  Company.  &ntl  tjjat  forever  hereafter, 
twice  in  every  year,  that  is  to  say,  on  every  first  Wednesday  in 
the  moneth  of  May,  and  on  every  last  Wednesday  in  October,  or 
oftener,  in  case  it  shall  bee  requisite,  the  Assistants,  and  such  of 
the  ffreemen  of  the  Company,  not  exceedinge  six  persons  ffor 
Newport,  ffoure  persons  ffor  each  of  the  respective  townes  of 
Providence,  Portsmouth  and  Warwtcke,  and  two  persons  for  each 
other  place,  towne  or  city,  whoe  shall  bee,  from  tyme  to  tyme, 
thereunto  elected  or  deputed  by  the  majour  parte  of  the  ffreemen 
of  the  respective  townes  or  places  ffor  which  they  shall  bee  so 
elected  or  deputed,  shall  have  a  generall  meetinge,  or  Assembly 
then  and  there  to  consult,  advise  and  determine,  in  and  about 
the  affaires  and  businesse  of  the  said  Company  and  Plantations. 
'UntJ  furtfjer,  wee  doe  .  .  .  graunt  unto  the  sayd  Governour  and 
Company  .  .  .  that  the  Governour  ...  [or  Deputy-Governor] 
.  .  .  ,  the  Assistants,  and  such  of  the  ffreemen  of  the  sayd  Company 
as  shall  bee  soe  as  aforesayd  elected  or  deputed,  or  soe  many  of 
them  as  shall  bee  present  att  such  meetinge  or  assemblye,  as 
afforesayde,  shall  bee  called  the  Generall  Assemblye;  and  that 
they,  or  the  greatest  parte  of  them  present,  whereof  the  Governour 
or  Deputy-Governour,  and  sixe  of  the  Assistants,  at  least  to  bee 
seven,  shall  have  .  .  .  ffull  power  [and]  authority  ...  to  apoynt, 
alter  and  change,  such  dayes,  tymes  and  places  of  meetinge  and 
Generall  Assemblye,  as  theye  shall  thinke  ffitt;  &n*J  further  .  .  . 


1663]  CHARTER   OF   RHODE   ISLAND  71 

wee  doe  .  .  .  ordeyne,  that  yearelie,  ...  the  aforesayd  Wednes 
day  in  May,  and  at  the  towne  of  Newport,  or  elsewhere,  if  urgent 
occasion  doe  require,  the  Governour,  Deputy-Governour  and 
Assistants  of  the  sayd  Company,  and  other  officers  of  the  sayd 
Company,  or  such  of  them  as  the  Generall  Assemblye  shall  thinke 
ffitt,  shall  bee,  in  the  sayd  Generall  Court  or  Assembly  to  bee 
held  from  that  daye  or  tyme,  newly  chosen  for  the  year  ensueing, 
by  such  greater  part  of  the  sayd  Company,  for  the  tyme  beinge, 
as  shall  bee  then  and  there  present;  .  .  .  Neverthelesse,  our 
will  and  pleasure  is,  and  wee  doe  hereby  declare  to  the  rest  of  oure 
Collonies  in  New-England,  that  itt  shall  not  bee  lawefull  ffor 
this  our  sayd  Collony  ...  to  invade  the  natives  inhabiting  within 
the  boundes  and  limitts  of  theire  sayd  Collonies  without  the 
knowiedge  and  consent  of  the  sayd  other  Collonies.  And  itt  is 
hereby  declared,  that  itt  shall  not  bee  lawfull  to  or  ffor  the  rest 
of  the  Collonies  to  invade  or  molest  the  native  Indians,  or  any 
other  inhabitants,  inhabiting  within  the  bounds  and  lymitts  here 
after  mentioned  (they  having  subjected  themselves  unto  us,  and 
being  by  us  taken  into  our  speciall  protection),  without  the  know 
ledge  and  consent  of  the  Governour  and  Company  of  our  Collony 
of  Rhode-Island  and  Providence  Plantations.  .  .  .  And  ffurther, 
know  ye,  that  wee  .  .  .  doe  give,  graunt  and  confirme,  unto  the 
sayd  Governour  and  Company,  and  theire  successours,  all  that 
parte  of  our  dominiones  in  New-England,  in  America,  conteyneing 
the  Nahantick  and  Nanhyganset  Bay,  and  countryes  and  partes 
adjacent,  bounded  on  the  west,  or  westerly,  to  the  middle  or 
channel  of  a  river  there,  commonly  called  and  known  by  the  name 
of  Pawcatuck,  alias  Pawcawtuck  river,  and  soe  along  the  sayd 
river,  as  the  greater  or  middle  streame  thereof  reacheth  or  lyes 
vpp  into  the  north  countrye,  northward,  unto  the  head  thereof, 
and  from  thence,  by  a  streight  lyne  drawne  due  north,  untill  itt 
meets  with  the  south  lyne  of  the  Massachusetts  Collonie;  and 
on  the  north,  or  northerly,  by  the  aforesayd  south  or  southerly 
lyne  of  the  Massachusetts  Collony  or  Plantation,  and  extending 
towards  the  east,  or  eastwardly,  three  English  miles  to  the  east 
and  north-east  of  the  most  eastern  and  north-eastern  parts  of  the 
aforesayd  Narragansett  Bay,  as  the  sayd  bay  lyeth  or  extendeth 
itself  from  the  ocean  on  the  south,  or  southwardly,  unto  the 
mouth  of  the  river  \vhich  runneth  towards  the  towne  of  Provi- 


72  SECOND   NAVIGATION   ACT  July  8/18 

dence,  and  from  thence  along  the  eastwardly  side  or  banke  of 
the  sayd  river  (higher  called  by  the  name  of  Seacunck  river),  up 
to  the  ffals  called  Patuckett  ffalls,  being  the  most  westwardly  lyne 
of  Plymouth  Collony,  and  soe  from  the  sayd  ffalls,  in  a  streight 
lyne,  due  north,  untill  itt  meete  with  the  aforesayd  lyne  of  the 
Massachusetts  Collony;  and  bounded  on  the  south  by  the  ocean: 
and,  in  particular,  the  lands  belonging  to  the  townes  of  Provi 
dence,  Pawtuxet,  Warwicke,  Misquammacok,  alias  Pawcatuck, 
and  the  rest  upon  the  maine  land  in  the  tract  aforesaid,  together 
with  Rhode-Island,  Blocke-Island,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  islands 
and  banks  in  the  Narragansett  Bay,  and  bordering  upon  the  coast 
of  the  tract  aforesayd  (Ffisher's  Island  only  excepted),  .  .  .  any 
graunt,  or  clause  in  a  late  graunt,  to  the  Governour  and  Company 
of  Connecticutt  Collony,  in  America,  to  the  contrary  thereof  in 
any  wise  notwithstanding;  .  .  .  $fotl  fllttljet,  our  will  and 
pleasure  is,  that  in  all  matters  of  publique  controversy  which  may 
fall  out  betweene  our  Collony  of  Providence  Plantations,  and  the 
rest  of  our  Collonies  in  New-England,  itt  shall  and  may  bee  law- 
full  to  and  for  the  Governour  and  Company  of  the  sayd  Collony 
of  Providence  Plantations  to  make  their  appeals  therein  to  us 
.  .  . ,  for  redresse  in  such  cases,  within  this  our  realme  of  England : 
and  that  itt  shall  be  lawfull  to  and  for  the  inhabitants  of  the  sayd 
Collony  .  .  .  ,  without  let  or  molestation,  to  passe  and  repasse 
with  freedome,  into  and  through  the  rest  of  the  English  Collonies, 
upon  their  lawfull  and  civill  occasions,  and  to  converse,  and  hold 
commerce  and  trade,  with  such  of  the  inhabitants  of  our  other 
English  Collonies  as  shall  bee  willing  to  admitt  them  thereunto, 
they  behaveing  themselves  peaceably  among  them.  .  .  . 


No.  19.     Second  Navigation  Act 
1663 

THE  Navigation  Act  of  1660  had  assured  to  English  vessels  a  monopoly  of 
the  carrying  trade  between  the  colonies  and  England;  but  English  vessels 
might  still  trade,  except  in  certain  "enumerated  articles,"  directly  between 
colonial  and  foreign  ports.  The  act  of  1663  aimed  to  benefit  the  merchants 
as  well  as  the  shipowners,  by  securing  to  English  merchants  the  control  of  the 
colonial  import  trade. 


1663]  SECOND    NAVIGATION   ACT  73 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Statutes  of  the  Realm,  V.,  449-452.  The  act  is 
cited  as  15  Car.  II.,  c.  7. 

AN  ACT  for  the  Encouragement  of  Trade. 

[IV.]  AND  in  reguard  His  Majesties  Plantations  beyond  the 
Seas  are  inhabited  and  peopled  by  His  Subjects  of  this  His  King- 
dome  of  England,  For  the  maintaining  a  greater  correspondence 
and  kindnesse  betweene  them  and  keepeing  them  in  a  firmer 
dependence  upon  it,  and  rendring  them  yet  more  beneficiall  and 
advantagious  unto  it  in  the  farther  Imployment  and  Encrease  of 
English  Shipping  and  Seamen,  vent  of  English  Woollen  and  other 
Manufactures  and  Commodities  rendring  the  Navigation  to  and 
from  the  same  more  safe  and  cheape,  and  makeing  this  King- 
dome  a  Staple  not  onely  of  the  Commodities  of  those  Plantations 
but  alsoe  of  the  Commodities  of  other  Countryes  and  Places  for 
the  supplying  of  them,  and  it  being  the  usage  of  other  Nations 
to  keepe  their  [Plantations  *]  Trade  to  themselves,  Be  it  enacted 
.  .  .  That  from  and  after  .  .  .  [March  25,  1664,]  .  .  .  noe 
Commoditie  of  the  Growth  Production  or  Manufacture  of  Europe 
shall  be  imported  into  any  Land  Island  Plantation  Colony  Terri 
tory  or  Place  to  His  Majestic  belonging,  or  which  shall  [belong 
hereafter2]  unto,  or  be  in  the  Possession  of  His  Majestic  .  .  . 
in  Asia  Africa  or  America  (Tangier  onely  excepted)  but  what 
shall  be  bona  fide  and  without  fraude  laden  and  shipped  in  England 
Wales  [and 3]  the  Towne  of  Berwicke  upon  Tweede  and  in 
English  built  Shipping,  or  which  were  bona  fide  bought  before 
.  .  .  [October  i,  1662,]  .  .  .  and  had  such  Certificate  thereof 
as  is  directed  .  .  .  [by  the  explanatory  Navigation  Act  of  1662,] 
.  .  .  and  whereof  the  Master  and  three  Fourthes  of  the  Marriners 
at  least  are  English,  and  which  shall  be  carryed  directly  thence 
to  the  said  Lands  Islands  Plantations  Colonyes  Territories  or 
Places,  and  from  noe  other  place  or.  places  whatsoever  Any  Law 
Statute  or  Usage  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding,  under  the 
Penaltie  of  the  losse  of  all  such  Commodities  of  the  Growth  Pro 
duction  or  Manufacture  of  Europe  as  shall  be  imported  into  any 
of  them  from  any  other  Place  whatsoever  by  Land  or  Water, 

1  Plantation  in  the  original  Ms. 

2  Hereafter  belong  in  the  original  Ms. 

3  The  original  Ms.  has  or. 


74  GRANT   TO    THE    DUKE    OF   YORK     [March  12/22 

and  if  by  Water,  of  the  Ship,  or  Vessell  alsoe  in  which  they  were 
imported  with  all  her  Guns  Tackle  Furniture  Ammunition  and 
Apparell.  .  .  . 

[V.]  PROVIDED  alwayes  .  .  .  That  it  shall  and  may  be  lawfull 
to  shipp  and  lade  in  such  Shipps,  and  soe  navigated  as  in  the 
foregoeing  Clause  is  sett  downe  and  expressed  in  any  part  of 
Europe  Salt  for  the  Fisheries  of  New  England  and  New  found 
land,  and  to  shipp  and  lade  in  the  Medera's  Wines  of  the  Growth 
thereof,  and  to  shipp  and  lade  in  the  Westerne  Islands  or  Azores 
Wines  of  the  Growth  of  the  said  Islands,  and  to  shipp  [or  *]  take 
in  Servants  or  Horses  in  Scotland  or  Ireland,  and  to  shipp  or 
lade  in  Scotland  all  sorts  of  Victuall  of  the  Growth  or  Produc 
tion  of  Scotland,  and  to  shipp  or  lade  in  Ireland  all  sortes  of 
Victuall  of  the  Growth  or  Production  of  Ireland,  and  the  same 
to  transport  into  any  of  the  said  Lands  Islands  Plantations  Colo- 
nyes  Territories  or  Places,  Any  thing  in  the  foregoing  Clause  in 
the  contrary  in  any  wise  notwithstanding. 

******** 

[VII.]  AND  it  is  hereby  further  enacted  That  if  any  Officer  of 
the  Customes  in  England  Wales  or  Towne  of  Berwicke  upon 
Tweede  shall  give  any  Warrant  for  or  suffer  any  Sugar,  Tobaccho, 
Ginger,  Cotton,  Wooll,  Indico  Speckle  Wood  or  Jamaica  Wood 
Fusticke  or  other  Dying  Wood  of  the  growth  of  any  of  the  said 
Lands  Islands  Colonyes  Plantations  Territories  or  Places  to  be 
carryed  into  any  other  Country  or  Place  whatsoever  untill  they 
have  beene  first  unladen  bona  fide  and  putt  on  shore  in  some 
Port  or  Haven  in  England  or  Wales  or  in  the  Towne  of  Berwicke, 
that  every  such  Officer  for  such  Offence  shall  forfeite  his  place 
and  the  value  of  such  of  the  said  Goods  as  he  shall  give  Warrant 
for  or  suffer  to  passe  into  any  other  Country  or  Place.  .  .  . 


No.  20.     Grant  to  the  Duke  of  York 

March  12/22,   1663/4 

THE  province  of  New  Netherland,  granted  to  the  Duke  of  York,  brother  of 
Charles  II-,  in  March,  1663/4,  was  not  surrendered  to  the  English  until  the 

1  And  in  the  original  Ms. 


1663/4]  GRANT   TO   THE   DUKE   OF   YORK  75 

following  August.  By  the  treaty  of  Breda,  in  1667,  the  English  occupation 
was  confirmed.  On  the  renewal  of  the  war  between  England  and  the  United 
Netherlands,  in  March,  1672/73,  New  York  was  retaken  by  the  Dutch, 
and  a  general  act  of  confiscation  was  passed,  including  in  its  scope  property 
of  the  King  and  of  the  Duke  of  York;  but  the  treaty  of  Westminster,  in  1674, 
providing  for  a  mutual  restoration  of  conquests,  reestablished  the  English 
control.  To  remove  any  doubt  as  to  the  validity  of  the  grant  of  1664,  and 
other  grants  made  under  it,  due  to  the  temporary  occupation  by  the  Dutch, 
a  second  grant  was  made  June  2Q/July  9,  1674,  in  terms  only  verbally 
different  from  the  first. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Documents  relating  to  the  Colonial  History  of  New 
York,  II.,  295-298.  On  the  English  conquest,  see  Sainsbury's  Calendar  of 
State  Papers,  Colonial,  V.  The  so-called  "Duke  of  York's  L,aws,"  1676— 
1682,  have  been  reprinted  by  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  (Harrisburg,  1879), 
in  a  volume  containing  also  the  charter  and  early  laws  of  Pennsylvania. 


CHARLES  the  Second,  .  .  .  [&c.]  .  .  .  Know  ye  that  we 
...  Do  Give  and  Grant  unto  our  Dearest  Brother  James  Duke 
of  York  his  Heirs  and  Assigns  All  that  part  of  the  maine  Land  of 
New  England  beginning  at  a  certain  place  called  or  known  by  the 
name  of  St  Croix  next  adjoining  to  New  Scotland  in  America  and 
from  thence  extending  along  the  Sea  Coast  unto  a  certain  place 
called  Petuaquine  or  Pemaquid  and  so  up  the  River  thereof  to  the 
furthest  head  of  the  same  as  it  tendeth  Northwards  and  extending 
from  thence  to  the  River  Kinebequi  and  so  Upwards  by  the 
Shortest  course  to  the  River  Canada  Northward  And  also  all 
that  Island  or  Islands  commonly  called  by  the  several  name  or 
names  of  Matowacks  or  Long  Island  situate  lying  and  being 
towards  the  West  of  Cape  Cod  and  the  Narrow  Higansetts  abut 
ting  upon  the  main  land  between  the  two  Rivers  there  called  or 
known  by  the  several  names  of  Connecticut  and  Hudsons  River 
together  also  with  the  said  River  called  Hudsons  River  and  all 
the  Land  from  the  West  side  of  Connecticut  to  the  East  side  of 
Delaware  Bay  and  also  all  those  several  Islands  called  or  known 
by  the  Names  of  Martin's  Vinyard  and  Nantukes  otherwise  Nan- 
tuckett.  .  .  .  And  the  said  James  Duke  of  York  doth  .  .  . 
covenant  and  promise  to  yield  and  render  unto  us  ...  of  and 
for  the  same  yearly  .  .  .  forty  Beaver  skins  when  they  shall  be 
demanded  or  within  Ninety  days  after  And  We  do  further  .  .  . 
Grant  unto  .  .  .  James  Duke  of  York  his  Heirs,  Deputies, 
Agents,  Commissioners  and  Assigns  by  these  presents  full  and 


76  SECOND    CHARTER   OF   CAROLINA     [June  3O/July  i« 

absolute  power  and  authority  to  correct,  punish,  pardon,  govern 
and  rule  all  such  the  subjects  of  us  ...  who  may  from  time 
to  time  adventure  themselves  into  any  the  parts  or  places  afore 
said  or  that  shall  or  do  at  any  time  hereafter  inhabit  within  the 
same  according  to  such  Laws,  Orders,  Ordinances,  Directions 
and  Instruments  as  by  our  said  Dearest  Brother  or  his  Assigns 
shall  be  established  ...  So  always  as  the  said  Statutes  Ordi 
nances  and  proceedings  be  not  contrary  to  but  as  near  as  con 
veniently  may  be  agreeable  to  the  Laws,  Statutes  &  Government 
of  this  Our  Realm  of  England  And  saving  and  reserving  to  us 
...  the  receiving,  hearing  and  determining  of  the  Appeal  and 
Appeals  of  all  or  any  Person  or  Persons  of  in  or  belonging  to  the 
territories  or  Islands  aforesaid  in  or  touching  any  Judgment  or 
Sentence  to  be  there  made  or  given  And  further  that  it  shall  .  .  . 
be  lawful  ...  for  our  said  Dearest  Brother  his  Heirs  and  Assigns 
by  these  presents  from  time  to  time  to  nominate,  make,  constitute, 
ordain  and  confirm  by  such  name  or  names  stile  or  stiles  as  to  him 
or  them  shall  seem  good  and  likewise  to  revoke,  discharge,  change 
and  alter  as  well  all  and  singular  Governors,  Officers  and  Minis 
ters  which  hereafter  shall  be  by  him  or  them  thought  fit  and  need 
ful  to  be  made  or  used  within  the  aforesaid  parts  and  Islands 
And  also  to  make,  ordain  and  establish  all  manner  of  Orders, 
Laws,  directions,  instructions,  forms  and  Ceremonies  of  Govern 
ment  and  Magistracy  fit  and  necessary  for  and  Concerning  the 
Government  of  the  territories  and  Islands  aforesaid  so  always  as  the 
same  be  not  contrary  to  the  laws  and  statutes  of  this  Our  Realm 
of  England  but  as  near  as  may  be  agreeable  thereunto.  .  .  . 


No.  21.     Second  Charter  of  Carolina 

June  so/July  10,  1665 

ALTHOUGH  the  Heath  grant  of  1629  had  been  declared  void  by  an  order  in 
council,  it  had  not  been  judicially  annulled;  and  it  was,  apparently,  to  quiet 
the  title  to  the  province,  as  well  as  to  enlarge  the  boundaries,  that  the  second 
Carolina  charter  was  obtained.  With  the  exception  of  the  definition  of  boun 
daries,  given  in  the  extract  following,  the  provisions  of  the  two  charters  are 
similar.  The  proprietary  government  under  the  charter  continued,  with 


1665]  SECOND    CHARTER    OF    CAROLINA  77 

many  vicissitudes,  until  1719,  when  it  was  overthrown;  but  the  proprietors 
maintained  their  ownership  until  1729,  when  the  title  of  seven-eighths  of  the 
colony  was  purchased  by  the  Crown.  The  proprietor  of  the  remaining  one- 
eighth,  Lord  Carteret,  exchanged  his  portion  in  1743  for  a  narrow  strip  of 
land  between  35°  34'  north  latitude  and  the  southern  boundary  of  Virginia, 
which  he  retained  until  the  Revolution.  During  most  of  the  proprietary 
period  the  northern  and  southern  colonies  enjoyed  separate  governments, 
although  the  province  was  held  as  a  unit;  but  with  the  purchase  of  the 
proprietary  title  by  the  Crown,  in  1729,  North  and  South  Carolina  became 
separate  royal  provinces,  and  so  continued  until  the  adoption  of  State  consti 
tutions  in  1776. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Statutes  at  Large  of  South  Carolina  (Cooper's  ed., 
1836),  I.,  31-40. 

CHARLES  the  Second,  .  .  .  [&c.]  .  .  .  WHEREAS,  by  our 
Letters  Patents,  bearing  date  .  .  .  [March  24,  1663,]  .  .  .  We 
were  graciously  pleased  to  grant  unto  .  .  .  Edward  Earl  of  Clar 
endon,  our  High  Chancellor  of  England  .  .  .  [and  others]  .  .  . 
all  that  province  .  .  .  called  Carolina,  situate,  lying  and  being 
within  our  dominions  of  America;  extending  from  the  north  end 
of  the  island  called  Luke-Island,  which  lieth  in  the  Southern 
Virginia  seas,  and  within  thirty-six  degrees  of  north  latitude ;  and 
to  the  west,  as  far  as  the  South-Seas;  and  so  respectively  as  far  as 
the  river  of  Matthias,  which  bordereth  upon  the  coast  of  Florida, 
and  within  thirty-one  degrees  of  north  latitude;  and  so  west, 
in  a  direct  line,  as  far  as  the  South-Seas  aforesaid. 

2d.  Now  know  ye,  that  we  .  .  .  are  graciously  pleased  to 
enlarge  our  said  grant  unto  them,  according  to  the  bounds  and 
limits  hereafter  specified,  ...  all  that  Province,  territory,  or 
tract  of  ground,  scituate,  lying  and  being  within  our  domin 
ions  of  America  aforesaid,  extending  north  and  eastward  as 
far  as  the  north  end  of  Charahake  river  or  gulet,  upon  a 
streight  westerly  line  to  Wyonoake  Creek,  which  lies  within 
or  about  the  degrees  of  thirty-six,  and  thirty  minutes  northern 
latitude,  and  so  west  in  a  direct  line  as  far  as  the  South-seas;  and 
South  and  Westward  as  far  as  the  degrees  of  twenty-nine  inclusive 
northern  latitude,  and  so  west  in  a  direct  line,  as  far  as  the  South 
Seas ;  together  with  all  and  singular  ports,  harbours,  bays,  rivers, 
and  islets,  belonging  unto  the  Province  or  territory  aforesaid.  .  .  . 

4th.  And  that  the  Province  or  territory  hereby  granted  and 
described,  may  be  dignified  with  as  large  Titles  and  Priviledges 


78  THIRD    NAVIGATION   ACT  [1671 

as  any  other  parts  of  our  Dominions  and  territories  in  that  region, 
Know  ye,  that  we  ...  do  ...  annex  and  unite  the  same  to  the 
said  Province  of  Carolina.  .  .  . 

******** 


No.  22.     Third  Navigation  Act 

1672 

THE  immediate  object  of  the  act  of  1672  was  to  prevent  the  illegal  trade  in 
tobacco  between  the  American  colonies  and  the  continent  of  Europe.  To 
bacco  was  one  of  the  articles  which,  by  the  Navigation  Act  of  1660,  could  be 
exported  only  to  England  or  to  another  colony ;  but  the  increasing  demand  for 
this  product,  together  with  the  high  price  which  must  be  paid  for  such  tobacco 
as  had  paid  customs  duty  in  England,  served  to  encourage  smuggling  and 
illicit  trade.  The  distinguishing  feature  of  the  act  of  1672  is  the  requirement 
of  a  bond  that  the  "  enumerated  articles"  would  be  landed  in  England,  and  the 
imposition  of  specified  duties  in  case  of  failure  of  the  merchant  to  comply. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Statutes  of  the  Realm,  V.,  792,  793.  The  act  is 
cited  as  25  Car.  II.,  c.  7.  The  regulation  of  the  trade  in  tobacco  was  the 
subject  of  various  acts;  these  are  enumerated  and  discussed  in  the  work  of 
Beer,  cited  under  No.  15,  ante. 

AN  ACT  for  the  incouragement  of  the  Greeneland  and  Eastland 
Trades,  and  for  the  better  secureing  the  Plantation  Trade. 

[V.]  AND  whereas  by  ...  [the  Navigation  Act  of  1660]  .  .  . , 
and  by  several!  other  Lawes  passed  since  that  time  it  is  permitted  to 
shipp,  carry,  convey  and  transport  Sugar,  Tobacco,  Cotton-wooll, 
Indicoe,  Ginger,  Fusticke  and  all  other  Dying  wood  of  the  Growth, 
Production  and  Manufacture  of  any  of  your  Majestyes  Planta 
tions  in  America,  Asia  or  Africa  from  the  places  of  their  Growth 
Production  and  Manufacture  to  any  other  of  your  Majestyes 
Plantations  in  those  Parts  (Tangier  onely  excepted)  and  that 
without  paying  of  Custome  for  the  same  either  at  ladeing  or 
unladeing  of  the  said  Commodityes  by  meanes  whereof  the  Trade 
and  Navigation  in  those  Commodityes  from  one  Plantation  to 
another  is  greatly  increased,  and  the  Inhabitants  of  diverse  of 
those  Colonies  not  contenting  themselves  with  being  supplyed 
with  those  Commodities  for  their  owne  use  free  from  all  Customes 
(while  the  Subjects  of  this  your  Kingdome  of  England  have  paid 


1672]  THIRD    NAVIGATION   ACT  79 

great  Customes  and  Impositions  for  what  of  them  hath  beene 
spent  here)  but  contrary  to  the  expresse  Letter  of  the  aforesaid 
Lawes  have  brought  into  diverse  parts  of  Europe  great  quantities 
thereof,  and  doe  alsoe  [dayly  *]  vend  great  quantities  thereof  to 
the  shipping  of  other  Nations  who  bring  them  into  diverse  parts 
of  Europe  to  the  great  hurt  and  diminution  of  your  Majestyes 
Customes  and  of  the  Trade  and  Navigation  of  this  your  King- 
dome  ;  For  the  prevention  thereof  .  .  .  bee  it  enacted  .  .  .  That 
from  and  after  .  .  .  [September  i,  1673,]  .  .  .  If  any  Shipp  or 
Vessell  which  by  Law  may  trade  in  any  of  your  Majesties  Planta 
tions  shall  come  to  any  of  them  to  shipp  and  take  on  board  any 
of  the  aforesaid  Commodities,  and  that  Bond  shall  not  be  first 
given  with  one  sufficient  Surety  to  bring  the  same  to  England  or 
Wales  or  the  Towne  of  Berwicke  upon  Tweede  and  to  noe  other 
place,  and  there  to  unloade  and  putt  the  same  on  shoare  (the 
danger  of  the  Seas  onely  excepted)  that  there  shall  be  ...  paid 
to  your  Majestie  .  .  .  for  soe  much  of  the  said  Commodities  as 
shall  be  laded  and  putt  on  board  such  Shipp  or  Vessell  these 
following  Rates  and  Dutyes,  That  is  to  say 

For  Sugar  White  the  hundred  Weight  containing  one  hundred 
and  twelve  pounds  five  shillings; 

And  Browne  Sugar  and  Muscavadoes  the  hundred  weight  con 
taining  one  hundred  and  twelve  pounds  one  shilling  [and2]  six 
pence; 

For  Tobacco  the  pound  one  penny; 

For  Cotton-wooll  the  pound  one  halfe-penny; 

For  Indicoe  the  pound,  two  pence; 

For  Ginger  the  hundred  Weight  containing  one  hundred  and 
twelve  pounds  one  shilling; 

For  Logwood  the  hundred  Weight  containing  one  hundred  aid 
twelve  pounds,  five  pounds, 

For  Fusticke  and  all  other  Dying-wood  the  hundred  Weight 
containing  one  hundred  and  twelve  pounds  six  pence; 

And  alsoe  for  every  pound  of  Cacao-nutts  one  penny  .  .  * 

1  Interlined  in  the  Roll. 

2  6°  in  the  original. 


80  CHARTER   OF   PENNSYLVANIA         [March  4/14 

No.  23.     Charter  of  Pennsylvania 

March  4/14,   1680/81 

WILLIAM  PENN  inherited  from  his  father,  Admiral  Perm,  a  claim  against 
the  King,  Charles  II.,  which  eventually  amounted  to  some  j£i 6,000.  On 
account  of  this  claim,  which  was  not  formally  relinquished,  and  also  with  a 
view  to  founding  a  colony  under  Quaker  rule,  Penn  petitioned,  in  June, 
1680,  for  a  grant  of  land  in  America.  The  petition  indicated  the  extent  of 
the  desired  grant;  but  experience  had  made  the  colonial  authorities  in  Eng 
land  cautious,  and  Penn's  application,  though  favored  by  the  King  and  the 
Duke  of  York,  was  carefully  considered.  The  representatives  of  the  Duke 
and  of  Lord  Baltimore  were  consulted,  and  took  a 'prominent  part  in  the 
negotiations;  but  in  December  the  attorney-general  reported  that  the  pro 
posed  grant  did  not  interfere  with  their  territorial  claims.  The  boundaries 
were  approved  Jan.  15/25,  i68o/8i,and  March  4/14  the  charter  was  issued. 
The  original  draft  of  the  charter,  drawn  up  by  Penn  on  the  model  of  the 
charter  of  Maryland,  was  revised  by  Chief  Justice  North,  and  important 
modifications  introduced.  A  royal  proclamation  of  April  2/12  announced 
the  issuance  of  the  charter,  and  commanded  obedience  to  its  provisions. 
Penn  shortly  issued  a  pamphlet  setting  forth  the  advantages  of  the  region 
and  the  conditions  of  settlement.  In  August,  1682,  he  obtained  from  the 
Duke  of  York  a  quit-claim  deed  of  the  territory  included  in  Pennsylvania, 
and  two  deeds  of  feofment,  one  of  Newcastle,  with  the  land  within  a  twelve- 
mile  circuit  about  it,  and  the  other  of  the  land  between  Newcastle  and  Cape 
Henlopen. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Charter  and  Laws  of  Pennsylvania  (Harrisburg, 
1879),  81-90.  An  abstract  of  Penn's  proposals  is  in  Hazard's  Annals  oj 
Pennsylvania,  505-513;  the  deeds  from  the  Duke  of  York  are  also  in  ib., 
586-593.  For  the  early  documentary  history,  see  Votes  of  Assembly,  I.; 
Colonial  Records,  I.;  Hazard's  Pennsylvania  Archives,  I.  Shepherd's 
History  of  Proprietary  Government  in  Pennsylvania  (Columbia  Univ.  Studies, 
VI.)  is  of  prime  importance. 

CHARLES  THE  SECOND  [&c.]  .  .  .  Knowe  yee  .  .  . 
that  wee,  favouring  the  petition  and  good  purpose  of  the  said  Wil 
liam  Penn,  and  haveing  regard  to  the  memorie  and  meritts  of  his 
late  father,  in  divers  services,  and  perticulerly  to  his  Conduct, 
courage  and  discretion  under  our  dearest  brother,  James,  Duke 
of  yorke,  in  that  signall  Battell  and  victorie,  fought  and  obteyned 
against  the  Dutch  fleete,  comanded  by  the  Herr  Van  Obdam, 
...  [in  1665,]  ...  In  consideration  thereof  ...  by  this  Our 
present  Charter  .  .  .  Doe  give  and  grant  unto  the  said  Wil- 


1680/81]  CHARTER    OF   PENNSYLVANIA  8l 

Ham  Penn,  his  heires  and  assignes  All  that  Tract  or  parte  of  land 
in  America,  with  all  the  Islands  therein  conteyned,  as  the  same 
is  bounded  on  the  East  by  Delaware  River,  from  twelve  miles 
distance,  Northwarde  of  New  Castle  Towne  unto  the  three  and 
fortieth  degree  of  Northerne  Latitude  if  the  said  River  doeth  extend 
soe  farre  Northwards;  But  if  the  said  River  shall  not  extend  soe 
farre  Northward,  then  by  the  said  River  soe  farr  as  it  doth  extend, 
and  from  the  head  of  the  said  River  the  Easterne  Bounds  are  to  bee 
determined  by  a  Meridian  Line,  to  bee  drawne  from  the  head  of 
the  said  River  unto  the  said  three  and  fortieth  degree,  The  said 
lands  to  extend  westwards,  five  degrees  in  longitude,  to  bee  com 
puted  from  the  said  Eastern  Bounds,  and  the  said  lands  to  bee 
bounded  on  the  North,  by  the  beginning  of  the  three  and  fortieth 
degree  of  Northern  latitude,  and  on  the  South,  by  a  Circle  drawne 
at  twelve  miles,  distance  from  New  Castle  Northwards,  and 
Westwards  unto  the  beginning  of  the  fortieth  degree  of  Northerne 
Latitude ;  and  then  by  a  streight  Line  westwards,  to  the  Limitt 
of  Longitude  above  menconed.  Wee  Doe  also  .  .  .  grant  unto 
the  said  William  Penn  .  .  .  the  free  and  undisturbed  use,  and 
continuance  in  and  passage  into  and  out  of  all  and  singuler  Ports, 
harbours,  Bayes,  waters,  Rivers,  Isles  and  Inletts,  belonging  unto  or 
leading  to  and  from  the  Countrey,  or  Islands  aforesaid ;  .  .  .  and 
him  the  said  William  Penn,  his  heires  and  Assignes,  Wee  do,  by  this 
our  Royall  Charter  .  .  .  make,  Create  .  .  .  the  true  and  absolute 
Proprietaries  of  the  Countrey  aforesaid,  and  of  all  other,  the 
premisses,  saving  alwayes  to  us  ...  the  faith  and  allegiance  of 
the  said  William  Penn  .  .  .  ,  and  of  all  other,  the  proprietaries, 
Tenants  and  Inhabitants  that  are,  or  shall  be  within  the  Ter 
ritories  and  Precincts  aforesaid;  and  Saving  also  unto  us  .  .  . 
the  Sovreignity  of  the  aforesaid  Country.  .  .  .  To  bee  holden  of 
us  ...  as  of  our  Castle  of  Windsor,  in  our  County  of  Berks,  in 
free  and  comon  socage  by  fealty  only  for  all  services,  and  not  in 
Capite  or  by  Knights  service,  Yeelding  and  paying  therefore  .  .  . 
two  beaver  Skins  ...  in  every  yeare;  and  also  the  fifth  parte 
of  all  Gold  and  Silver  Oare,  which  shall  from  time  to  time  happen 
to  be  found  within  the  Limitts  aforesaid,  cleare  of  all  Charges, 
and  .  .  .  wee  doe  hereby  erect  the  aforesaid  Countrey  and  Islands, 
into  a  Province  and  Seigniorie,  and  doe  call  itt  Pensilvania  .' •••.''<  i. 
[The  proprietor  may  make  laws  with  the  assent  of  the  freemen, 


82  CHARTER   OF   PENNSYLVANIA         [March  4/14 

appoint  magistrates  and  other  officers,  and  punish  all  crimes  and 
offences  except  treason  and  murder.]  Provided,  Nevertheles,  that 
the  said  Lawes  bee  consonant  to  reason,  and  bee  not  repugnant 
or  contrarie,  but  as  neare  as  conveniently  may  bee  agreeable  to 
the  Lawes,  Statutes  and  rights  of  this  our  Kingdome  of  England, 
And  Saveing  and  reserving  to  us,  Our  heirs  and  Successors^  the 
receiving,  heareing  and  determining  of  the  Appeale  and  Appeales, 
of  all  or  any  person  or  persons,  of,  in  or  belonging  to  the  Ter 
ritories  aforesaid,  or  touching  any  Judgement  to  bee  there  made 
or  given  ...  [In  emergencies,  the  proprietor  or  his  representa^ 
tives  may  make  ordinances  without  the  consent  of  the  freemen; 
the  same  to  be  agreeable  to  the  laws  of  England]  .  .  .  And 
to  the  End  the  said  William  Penn,  or  heires,  or  other,  the  Planters, 
Owners  or  Inhabitants  of  the  said  Province,  may  not  att  any 
time  hereafter,  by  misconstrucon  of  the  powers  aforesaid,  through 
inadvertiencie  or  designe,  depart  from  that  faith  and  due  alle 
giance  which  by  the  Lawes  of  this  our  Realme  of  England,  they 
and  all  our  subjects,  in  our  Dominions  and  Territories,  always 
owe  unto  us  ...  by  colour  of  any  extent  or  largenesse  of  powers 
hereby  given,  or  pretended  to  bee  given,  or  by  force  or  colour  of 
any  lawes  hereafter  to  bee  made  in  the  said  Province,  by  vertue 
of  any  such  powers.  Our  further  will  and  pleasure  is,  that  a 
transcript  or  Duplicate  of  all  lawes  which  shall  bee  soe  as  afore 
said,  made  and  published  within  the  said  province,  shall  within 
five  yeares  after  the  makeing  thereof,  be  transmitted  and  delivered 
to  the  privy  Councell  .  .  .  ;  And  if  any  of  the  said  Lawes  within 
the  space  of  six  months,  after  that  they  shall  be  soe  transmitted 
and  delivered,  bee  declared  by  us  .  .  .in  our  .  .  .  privy  Councell, 
inconsistent  with  the  sovereignety  or  lawfull  prerogative  of  us 
...  or  contrary  to  the  faith  and  allegiance  due  by  [to]  the  legall 
Government  of  this  realme,  from  the  said  William  Penn,  or  his 
heires,  or  of  the  Planters  and  Inhabitants  of  the  said  province;  and 
that  thereupon  any  of  the  said  Lawes  shall  bee  adjudged  and 
declared  to  bee  void  .  .  .  that  then,  and  from  thenceforth  such 
Lawes  concerning  which  such  Judgement  and  declaracon  shall 
be  made,  shall  become  voyd,  otherwise  the  said  lawes  soe  trans 
mitted,  shall  remaine  and  stand  in  full  force  according  to  the  true 
intent  and  meaneing  thereof.  .  .  .  We  Will  alsoe,  and  by  these 
presents  .  .  .  doe  .  .  .  grant  licence  .  .  .  unto  the  said  William 


1680/81]  CHARTER    OF   PENNSYLVANIA  83 

Penn  .  .  .  and  to  all  the  inhabitants  and  dwellers  in  pvince  afore 
said  ...  to  import  or  unlade  by  themselves  or  theire  Servants, 
ffactors  or  assignes,  all  merchandizes  and  goods  whatsoever,  that 
shall  arise  of  the  fruites  and  comodities  of  the  said  province,  either 
by  Land  or  Sea,  into  any  of  the  ports  ...  in  our  kingdome  of 
England,  and  not  into  any  other  countrey  whatsoever.  And  Wee 
give  him  full  power  to  dispose  of  the  said  goods  in  the  said  ports, 
and  if  need  bee,  within  one  yeare  next  after  the  unladeing  of  the 
same,  to  Lade  the  said  Merchandizes  and  goodes  again  into  the 
same  or  other  shipps,  and  to  export  the  same  into  any  other 
Countreys,  either  of  our  Dominions  or  fforreigne,  according  to 
La  we :  PROVIDED  alwayes,  that  they  pay  such  custom  es  and  impo- 
sicons,  subsidies  and  duties  for  the  same  ...  as  the  rest  of  our 
subjects  of  our  kingdome  of  England,  for  the  time  being  shall  be 
bound  to  pay,  And  doe  observe  the  Acts  of  Navigation  and  other 
Lawes  in  that  behalfe  made.  .  .  .  And  Wee  doe  further  .  .  . 
ordaine  .  .  .  That  he  the  said  William  penn  ...  may  from 
time  to  time  forever,  have  and  enjoy  the  Customes  and  Subsidies 
in  the  ports,  harbours  and  other  Creeks,  and  places  aforesaid, 
within  the  pvince  aforesaid,  payable  or  due  for  merchandizes  and 
wares,  there  to  be  Laded  and  unladed,  the  said  Customes  and 
Subsidies  to  be  reasonably  assessed,  upon  any  occasion  by  them 
selves,  and  the  people  there  as  aforesaid,  to  be  assembled  to  whom 
wee  Give  power,  by  these  presents  ...  to  assesse  and  impose  the 
same,  Saveing  unto  us  ...  such  imposicons  and  customes  as  by 
Act  of  parliament  are  and  shall  be  appointed  .  .  .  [The  pro 
prietor  to  appoint  an  agent,  who  shall  reside  in  England.]  .  .  . 
And  further  .  .  .  Wee  doe-  Covenant  and  grant  to  and  writh  the 
said  William  Penn,  and  his  heires  and  assignes,  That  Wee  .  .  . 
shall  att  no  time  hereafter  sett  or  make,  or  cause  to  be  sett,  any 
impossicon,  custome  or  other  taxacon,  rate  or  contribucon  what 
soever,  in  and  upon  the  dwellers  and  inhabitants  of  the  aforesaid 
pvince,  for  their  Lands,  tenements,  goods  or  chattels,  within  the 
said  province,  or  in  and  upon  any  goods  or  merchandize  within  the 
said  pvince,  or  to  be  laden  or  unladen  within  the  ports  or  har 
bours  of  the  said  pvince,  unles  the  same  be  with  the  consent  of 
the  pprietary,  or  chiefe  Governor  and  assembly,  or  by  Act  of 
parliament  in  England.  .  .  .  And  .  .  .  Wee  doe  hereby  .  .  . 
charge  and  require  that  if  any  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  said  pvince, 


84  SECOND    CHARTER   OF   MASSACHUSETTS     [Oct.  7/17 

to  the  number  of  Twenty,  shall  att  any  time  hereafter  be  desirous, 
and  shall  by  any  writeing  or  by  any  pson  deputed  for  them,  signify 
such  their  desire  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  that  any  preacher  or 
preachers  to  be  approved  of  by  the  said  Bishop,  may  be  sent  unto 
them  for  their  instruccon,  that  then  such  preacher  or  preachers, 
shall  and  may  be  and  reside  within  the  said  pvince,  without  any 
deniall  or  molestacon  whatsoever.  .  .  . 


No.  24.     Second  Charter  of  Massachusetts 

October  7/17,   1691 

IN  April,  1688,  Increase  Mather  was  sent  to  England  to  urge  a  restoration 
of  the  Massachusetts  charter  of  1629;  and  after  the  flight  of  James  II.  and 
the  deposition  of  Andros,  government  under  the  charter  was  temporarily 
resumed.  In  January,  1688/9,  Mather  learned  that  "a  circular  letter  was  to 
be  sent  to  all  the  plantations  confirming  the  existing  governments  until  further 
orders."  He  succeeded  in  stopping  the  dispatch  of  the  letters  intended  for 
New  England,  and  thus  prevented  the  reinstatement  of  Andros,  who  was 
shortly  made  governor  of  Virginia.  When  it  became  clear  that  the  old 
charter  would  not  be  restored,  and  that  Massachusetts  would  remain  a  royal 
province,  Mather  and  two  other  representatives  of  the  colony  petitioned  for 
a  new  charter.  The  petition  was  favorably  received,  and  the  instrument  was 
drafted  in  consultation  with  the  agents. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Acts  and  Resolves  of  the  Province  of  Massachusetts 
Bay,  I.,  1-20.  On  the  vacating  of  the  charter  of  1629,  see  Toppan's  Edward 
Randolph  (Prince  Soc.  Publ.),  I.,  II.;  the  exemplification  is  in  Mass.  Hist. 
Coll.,  Fourth  Series,  II.,  246-278. 

[The  charter  begins  by  reciting  the  grant  of  a  patent  in  1620 
to  the  -Council  for  New  England,  the  grant  by  the  Council  to  the 
Massachusetts  Bay  Company  in  1628,  the  royal  charter  of  1629, 
and  the  vacating  of  the  charter  by  a  judgment  in  chancery  in 
1684,  and  continues:] 

^ntJ  SSEt^reas  severall  persons  employed  as  Agents  in  behalfe 
of  Our  said  Collony  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  in  New  England 
have  made  their  humble  application  unto  Us  that  Wee  would  be 
graciously  pleased  by  Our  Royall  Charter  to  Incorporate  Our 
Subjects  in  Our  said  Collony  .  .  .  And  alsoe  to  the  end  Our  good 
Subjects  within  Our  Collony  of  New  Plymouth  in  New  England 
aforesaid  may  be  brought  under  such  a  forme  of  Government  as 


1691]  SECOND    CHARTER   OF  MASSACHUSETTS  85 

may  put  them  in  a  better  Condition  of  defence  .  .  .  Wee  doe  by 
these  presents  for  Us  Our  Heirs  and  Successors  Will  and  Ordeyne 
that  the  Territories  and  Collonyes  comonly  called  or  known  by  the 
Names  of  the  Collony  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  and  Collony  of 
New  Plymouth  the  Province  of  Main  the  Territorie  called  Accadia 
or  Nova  Scotia  and  all  that  Tract  of  Land  lying  betweene  the  said 
Territori/m'es  of  Nova  Scotia  and  the  said  Province  of  Main  be 
Erected  United  and  Incorporated  .  .  .  into  one  reall  Province  by 
the  Name  of  Our  Province  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  in  New 
England  And  .  .  .  Wee  doe  .  .  .  grant  unto  .  .  .  the  Inhabit 
ants  of  ...  the  Massachusetts  Bay  and  their  Successors  all  that 
parte  of  New  England  in  America  lying  and  extending  from  the 
greate  River  commonly  called  Monomack  alias  Merrimack  on  the 
Northpart  and  from  three  Miles  Northward  of  the  said  River  to 
the  Atlantick  or  Western  Sea  or  Ocean  on  the  South  part  And  all 
the  Lands  and  Hereditaments  whatsoever  lying  within  the  limitts 
aforesaid  and  extending  as  farr  as  the  Outermost  Points  or  Prom 
ontories  of  Land  called  Cape  Cod  and  Cape  Mallabar  North  and 
South  and  in  Latitude  Breadth  and  in  Length  and  Longitude  of  and 
within  all  the  Breadth  and  Compass  aforesaid  throughout  the 
Main  Land  there  from  the  said  Atlantick  or  Western  Sea  and 
Ocean  on  the  East  parte  towards  the  South  Sea  or  Westward  as 
far  as  Our  Collonyes  of  Rhode  Island  Connecticutt  and  the 
Marragansett  [Narragansett]  Countrey  all  alsoe  all  that  part  or 
portion  of  Main  Land  beginning  at  the  Entrance  of  Pescata  way 
Harbour  and  soe  to  pass  upp  the  same  into  the  River  of  Newicke- 
wannock  and  through  the  same  into  the  furthest  head  thereof  and 
from  thence  Northwestward  till  One  Hundred  and  Twenty  Miles 
be  finished  and  from  Piscata  way  Harbour  mouth  aforesaid  North- 
Eastward  along  the  Sea  Coast  to  Sagadehock  and  from  the  Period 
of  One  Hundred  and  Twenty  Miles  aforesaid  to  crosse  over  Land 
to  the  One  Hundred  and  Twenty  Miles  before  reckoned  up  into 
the  Land  from  Piscataway  Harbour  through  Newickawannock 
River  and  also  the  North  halfe  of  the  Isles  and  [of]  Shoales  to 
gether  with  the  Isles  of  Cappawock  and  Nantukett  near  Cape 
Cod  aforesaid  and  alsoe  [all]  Lands  and  Hereditaments  lying 
and  being  in  the  Countrey  and  Territory  commonly  called  Accadia 
or  Nova  Scotia  And  all  those  Lands  and  Hereditaments  lying  and 
extending  betweene  the  said  Countrey  or  Territory  of  Nova  Scotia 


86  SECOND   CHARTER   OF   MASSACHUSETTS     [Oct.  7/17 

and  the  said  River  of  Sagadahock  or  any  part  thereof  .  .  .  and 
alsoe  all  Islands  and  Isletts  lying  within  tenn  Leagues  directly 
opposite  to  the  Main  Land  within  the  said  bounds  .  .  .  And  Wee 
doe  further  .  .  .  ordeyne  that  .  .  .  there  shall  be  one  Governour 
One  Leiutenant  or  Deputy  Governour  and  One  Secretary  of  Our 
said  Province  or  Territory  to  be  from  time  to  time  appointed  and 
Commissionated  by  Us  ...  and  Eight  and  Twenty  Assistants 
or  Councillors  to  be  advising  and  assisting  to  the  Governour  .  .  . 
for  the  time  being  as  by  these  presents  is  hereafter  directed  and 
appointed  which  said  Councillors  or  Assistants  are  to  be  Con 
stituted  Elected  and  Chosen  in  such  forme  and  manner  as  hereafter 
in  these  presents  is  expressed  And  for  the  better  Execution  of  Our 
Royall  Pleasure  and  Grant  in  this  behalfe  Wee  .  .  .  Nominate 
.  .  .  Simon  Broadstreet  John  Richards  Nathaniel  Saltenstall  Wait 
Winthrop  John  Phillipps  James  Russell  Samuell  Sewall  Samuel 
Appleton  Barthilomew  Gedney  John  Hawthorn  Elisha  Hutchin- 
son  Robert  Pike  Jonathan  Curwin  John  Jolliffe  Adam  Winthrop 
Richard  Middlecot  John  Foster  Peter  Serjeant  Joseph  Lynd 
Samuell  Hayman  Stephen  Mason  Thomas  Hinckley  William 
Bradford  John  Walley  Barnabas  Lothrop  Job  Alcott  Samuell 
Daniell  and  Silvanus  Davis  Esquiers  the  first  and  present  Coun 
cillors  or  Assistants  of  Our  said  Province  .  .  .  ^Inti  Witt  doe 
further  .  .  .  appoint  .  .  .  Isaac  Addington  Esquier  to  be  Our 
first  and  present  Secretary  of  Our  said  Province  during  Our 
Pleasure  2lnti  ©ur  Will  and  Pleasure  is  that  the  Governour  .  .  . 
shall  have  Authority  from  time  to  time  at  his  discretion  to  assemble 
and  call  together  the  Councillors  or  Assistants  .  .  .  and  that  the 
said  Governour  with  the  said  Assistants  or  Councillors  or  Seaven  of 
them  at  the  least  shall  and  may  from  time  to  time  hold  and  keep 
a  Councill  for  the  ordering  and  directing  the  Affaires  of  Our  said 
Province  &nti  further  Wee  Will  .  .  .  that  there  shall  ...  be 
convened  ...  by  the  Governour  .  .  .  upon  every  last  Wednesday 
in  the  Moneth  of  May  every  yeare  for  ever  and  at  all  such  other 
times  as  the  Governour  .  .  .  shall  think  fitt  and  appoint  a  great 
and  Generall  Court  of  Assembly  Which  .  .  .  shall  consist  of  the 
Governour  and  Councill  or  Assistants  .  .  .  and  of  such  Free 
holders  ...  as  shall  be  from  time  to  time  elected  or  deputed  by 
the  Major  parte  of  the  Freeholders  and  other  Inhabitants  of  the  re 
spective  Townes  or  Places  who  shall  be  present  at  such  Elections 


1691]  SECOND   CHARTER  OF  MASSACHUSETTS  87 

Each  of  the  said  Townes  and  Places  being  hereby  impowered  to 
Elect  and  Depute  Two  Persons  and  noe  more  to  serve  for  and 
represent  them  respectively  in  the  said  Great  and  Generall  Court 
.  .  .  To  which  Great  and  Generall  Court  .  .  .  Wee  doe  hereby 
.  .  .  grant  full  power  and  authority  from  time  to  time  to  direct  .  .  . 
what  Number  each  County  Towne  and  Place  shall  Elect  and 
Depute  to  serve  for  and  represent  them  respectively  .  .  .  Probtoeti 
alwayes  that  noe  Freeholder  or  other  Person  shall  have  a  Vote  in 
the  Election  of  Members  .  .  .  who  at  the  time  of  such  Election 
shall  not  have  an  estate  of  Freehold  in  Land  within  Our  said 
Province  or  Territory  to  the  value  of  Forty  Shillings  per  Annum 
at  the  least  or  other  estate  to  the  value  of  Forty  *  pounds  Sterling 
And  that  every  Person  who  shall  be  soe  elected  shall  before  he  sitt 
or  Act  in  the  said  Great  and  Generall  Court  .  .  .  take  the  Oaths 
mentioned  in  an  Act  of  Parliament  made  in  the  first  yeare  of  Our 
Reigne  Entituled  an  Act  for  abrogateing  of  the  Oaths  of  Alle 
giance  and  Supremacy  and  appointing  other  Oaths  and  thereby 
appointed  to  be  taken  instead  of  the  Oaths  of  Allegiance  and 
Supremacy  and  shall  make  Repeat  and  Subscribe  the  Declaration 
mentioned  in  the  said  Act  .  .  .  and  that  the  Governour  for  the 
time  being  shall  have  full  power  and  Authority  from  time  to  time 
as  he  shall  Judge  necessary  to  adjourne  Prorogue  and  dissolve 
all  Great  and  Generall  Courts  .  .  .  met  and  convened  as  aforesaid 
And  .  .  .  Wee  doe  .  .  .  Ordeyne  that  yearly  once  in  every  yeare 
...  the  aforesaid  Number  of  Eight  and  Twenty  Councillors  or 
Assistants  shall  be  by  the  Generall  Court  .  .  .  newly  chosen  that 
is  to  say  Eighteen  at  least  of  the  Inhabitants  of  or  Proprietors  of 
Lands  within  the  Territory  formerly  called  the  Collony  of  the 
Massachusetts  Bay  and  four  at  the  least  of  the  Inhabitants  of  or 
Proprietors  of  Lands  within  the  Territory  formerly  called  New 
Plymouth  and  three  at  the  least  of  the  Inhabitants  of  or  Proprietors 
of  Land  within  the  Territory  formerly  called  the  Province  of  Main 
and  one  at  the  least  of  the  Inhabitants  of  or  Proprietors  of  Land 
within  the  Territory  lying  between  the  River  of  Sagadahoc  and 
Nova  Scotia  .  .  .  [The  General  Court  may  remove  assistants 
from  office,  and  may  also  fill  vacancies  caused  by  removal  or  death.] 
And  Wee  doe  further  .  .  .  Ordeyne  that  it  shall  and  may  be 

1  See  note  in  Acts  and  Resolves,  vol.  I.,  p.  393.  —  ED. 


88  SECOND    CHARTER    OF   MASSACHUSETTS     [Oct.  7/17 

lawfull  for  the  said  Governour  with  the  advice  and  consent  of 
the  Councill  or  Assistants  from  time  to  time  to  nominate  and 
appoint  Judges  Commissioners  of  Oyer  and  Terminer  Sheriffs 
Provosts  Marshalls  Justices  of  the  Peace  and  other  Officers  to 
Our  Councill  and  Courts  of  Justice  belonging  .  .  .  and  for  the 
greater  Ease  and  Encouragement  of  Our  Loveing  Subjects  In 
habiting  our  said  Province  ...  and  of  such  as  shall  come  to 
Inhabit  there  We  doe  .  .  .  Ordaine  that  for  ever  hereafter  there 
shall  be  a  liberty  of  Conscience  allowed  in  the  Worshipp  of  God 
to  all  Christians  (Except  Papists)  Inhabiting  .  .  .  within  our  said 
Province  .  .  .  [Courts  for  the  trial  of  both  civil  and  criminal 
cases  may  be  established  by  the  General  Court,  reserving  to  the 
governor  and  assistants  matters  of  probate  and  administration.] 
^ntJ  tofyereas  Wee  judge  it  necessary  that  all  our  Subjects  should 
have  liberty  to  Appeale  to  us  ...  in  Cases  that  may  deserve 
the  same  Wee  doe  .  .  .  Ordaine  that  incase  either  party  shall  not 
rest  satisfied  with  the  Judgement  or  Sentence  of  any  Judicatories 
or  Courts  within  our  said  Province  ...  in  any  Personall  Action 
wherein  the  matter  in  difference  doth  exceed  the  value  of  three 
hundred  Pounds  Sterling  that  then  he  or  they  may  appeale  to  us 
...  in  our  .  .  .  Privy  Councill  .  .  .  ^littj  we  doe  further 
.  .  .  grant  to  the  said  Governor  and  the  great  and  Generall 
Court  .  .  .  full  power  and  Authority  from  time  to  time  to  make 
...  all  manner  of  wholesome  and  reasonable  Orders  Laws 
Statutes  and  Ordinances  Directions  and  Instructions  either  with 
penalties  or  without  (soe  as  the  same  be  not  repugnant  or  con 
trary  to  the  Lawes  of  this  our  Real  me  of  England)  as  they  shall 
Judge  to  be  for  the  good  and  welfare  of  our  said  Province.  .  .  . 
And  for  the  Government  and  Ordering  thereof  and  of  the  People 
Inhabiting  ...  the  same  and  for  the  necessary  support  and 
Defence  of  the  Government  thereof  [and  also]  full  power  and 
Authority  to  name  and  settle  Annually  all  Civill  Officers  within 
the  said  Province  such  Officers  Excepted  the  Election  and 
Constitution  of  whome  wee  have  by  these  presents  reserved  to  us 
.  .  .  or  to  the  Governor  .  .  .  and  to  Settforth  the  severall  Duties 
Powers  and  Lymitts  of  every  such  Officer  .  .  .  and  the  forms  of 
such  Oathes  not  repugnant  to  the  Lawes  and  Statutes  of  this  our 
Realme  of  England  as  shall  be  respectively  Administred  unto 
them  for  the  Execution  of  their  severall  Offices  and  places  And 


1691]  SECOND    CHARTER   OF   MASSACHUSETTS  89 

alsoe  to  impose  Fines  mulcts  Imprisonments  and  other  Punish 
ments  And  to  Impose  and  leavy  proportionable  and  reasonable 
Assessments  Rates  and  Taxes  upon  the  Estates  and  Persons  of  all 
and  every  the  Proprietors  and  Inhabitants  of  our  said  Province 
or  Territory  .  .  .  for  Our  Service  in  the  necessary  defence  and 
support  of  our  Government  of  our  said  Province  .  .  .  and  the 
Protection  and  Preservation  of  the  Inhabitants  there  according  to 
such  Acts  as  are  or  shall  be  in  force  within  our  said  Province  .  .  . 
[The  governor  to  have  a  veto  on  elections  and  acts  of  the  General 
Court]  .  .  .  &ri&  wee  doe  .  .  .  Ordaine  that  the  said  Orders 
Laws  Statutes  and  Ordinances  be  by  the  first  opportunity  after  the 
makeing  thereof  sent  or  Transmitted  unto  us  ...  for  Our  .  .  . 
approbation  or  Disallowance  And  that  incase  all  or  any  of  them 
shall  at  any  time  within  the  space  of  three  yeares  next  after  the 
same  shall  have  been  presented  to  us  ...  in  Our  .  .  .  Privy 
Councill  be  disallowed  and  rejected  .  .  .  then  such  ...  of 
them  as  shall  be  soe  disallowed  .  .  .  shall  thenceforth  cease 
and  determine  and  become  utterly  void  and  of  none  effect  [Laws, 
&c.,  not  disallowed  within  the  three  years,  to  remain  in  force 
until  repealed  by  the  General  Court.  Grants  of  land  by  the 
General  Court,  within  the  limits  of  the  former  colonies  of  Massa 
chusetts  Bay  and  New  Plymouth,  and  the  Province  of  Maine, 
excepting  the  region  north  and  east  of  the  Sagadahoc,  to  be 
valid  without  further  royal  approval.  The  governor  shall  direct 
the  defense  of  the  province,  and  may  exercise  martial  law  in  case 
of  necessity;]  .  .  .  Profntjcli  alwayes  .  .  .  That  the  said  Govern- 
our  shall  not  at  any  time  hereafter  by  vertue  of  any  power  hereby 
granted  or  hereafter  to  be  granted  to  him  Transport  any  of  the 
Inhabitants  of  Our  said  Province  ...  or  oblige  them  to  march 
out  of  the  Limitts  of  the  same  without  their  Free  and  voluntary 
consent  or  the  Consent  of  the  Great  and  Generall  Court  .  .  . 
nor  grant  Commissions  for  exercising  the  Law  Martiall  upon  any 
the  Inhabitants  of  Our  said  Province  .  .  .  without  the  Advice 
and  Consent  of  the  Councill  or  Assistants  of  the  same  .  .  .  ^ro- 
bitiftJ  alwaies  .  .  .  that  nothing  herein  shall  extend  or  be  taken 
to  ...  allow  the  Exercise  of  any  Admirall  Court  Jurisdiction 
Power  or  Authority  but  that  the  same  be  and  is  hereby  reserved 
to  Us  ...  and  shall  from  time  to  time  be  ...  exercised  by 
vertue  of  Commissions  to  be  yssued  under  the  Great  Scale  of 


90  NAVIGATION   ACT  [April  10/20 

England  or  under  the  Seale  of  the  High  Admirall  or  the  Commis 
sioners  for  executing  the  Office  of  High  Admirall  of  England.  .  .  . 
2lnti  lastlg  for  the  better  provideing  and  furnishing  of  Masts  for 
Our  Royall  Navy  Wee  doe  hereby  reserve  to  Us  ...  all  Trees 
of  the  Diameter  of  Twenty  Four  Inches  and  upwards  of  Twelve 
Inches  from  the  ground  growing  upon  any  soyle  or  Tract  of  Land 
within  Our  said  Province  .  .  .  not  heretofore  granted  to  any 
private  persons  And  Wee  doe  restraine  and  forbid  all  persons 
whatsoever  from  felling  cutting  or  destroying  any  such  Trees 
without  the  Royall  Lycence  of  Us  ...  first  had  and  obteyned 
upon  penalty  of  Forfeiting  One  Hundred  Pounds  sterling  unto 
Ous  [Us]  .  .  .  for  every  such  Tree  so  felled  cutt  or  destroyed.  .  .  . 


No.  25.     Navigation  Act 

April  10/20,  1696 

THE  Navigation  Act  of  1672,  besides  laying  duties  on  certain  "enumerated 
articles,"  had  aimed  to  provide  a  more  effective  system  of  administration  for 
the  colonial  customs  service;  but  in  the  years  immediately  following  the 
revolution  of  1688,  the  acts  of  trade,  never  much  regarded  in  the  colonies, 
were  extensively  violated.  In  particular,  the  lack  of  a  system  of  registry  for 
English-built  ships  made  the  enforcement  of  the  acts  difficult,  and  led  to 
complaints  from  British  merchants  of  loss  of  revenue;  and  it  was  to  supply 
this  lack  that  the  act  of  1696  was  especially  designed.  "All  further  shipping 
laws  were  in  the  nature  of  detailed  regulations,  and  this  act  .  .  .  may  be  said 
to  have  added  the  finishing  touch  to  the  colonial  system  so  far  as  shipping 
was  concerned"  (Channing). 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Statutes  of  the  Realm,  VII.,  103-107.  The  act  is 
cited  as  7  and  8  Wm.  III.,  c.  22. 

AN  ACT  for  preventing  Frauds  and  regulating  Abuses  in  the 
Plantation  Trade. 

[Recital  that  notwithstanding  12  Car.  II.,  c.  18,  15  Car.  II., 
c.  7,  22  &  23  Car.  II.,  c.  26,  and  25  Car.  II.,  c.  7,  great  abuses 
are  committed:]  For  Remedy  thereof  for  the  future  bee  itt  en 
acted  .  .  .  That  after  .  .  .  [March  25,  1698,]  .  .  .  noe  Goods 
or  Merchandizes  whatsoever  shall  bee  imported  into  or  exported 
out  of  any  Colony  or  Plantation  to  His  Majesty  in  Asia  Africa  or 


1696]  NAVIGATION  ACT  91 

America  belonging  or  in  his  Possession  or  which  may  hereafter 
belong  unto  or  bee  in  the  Possession  of  His  Majesty  ...  or 
shall  bee  laden  in  or  carried  from  any  One  Port  or  Place  in  the 
said  Colonies  or  Plantations  to  any  other  Port  or  Place  in  the 
same,  the  Kingdome  of  England  Dominion  of  Wales  or  Towne 
of  Berwick  upon  Tweed  in  any  Shipp  or  Bottome  but  what  is 
or  shall  bee  of  the  Built  of  England  or  of  the  Built  of  Ireland 
or  the  said  Colonies  or  Plantations  and  wholly  owned  by  the 
People  thereof  or  any  of  them  and  navigated  with  the  Masters 
and  Three  Fourths  of  the  Mariners  of  the  said  Places  onely  (ex 
cept  such  Shipps  onely  as  are  or  shall  bee  taken  Prize  .  .  .  And 
alsoe  except  for  the  space  of  Three  Yeares  such  Foreigne  built 
Shipps  as  shall  bee  employed  by  the  Commissioners  of  His  Maj 
esties  Navy  for  the  tyme  being  or  upon  Contract  with  them  in 
bringing  onely  Masts  Timber  and  other  Navall  Stores  for  the 
Kings  Service  from  His  Majesties  Colonies  or  Plantations  to  this 
Kingdome  to  bee  navigated  as  aforesaid  and  whereof  the  Property 
doth  belong  to  English  Men)  under  paine  of  Forfeiture  of  Shipp 
and  Goods.  .  .  . 

******** 
V.  AND  for  the  more  effectuall  preventing  of  Frauds  and  regu 
lating  Abuses  in  the  Plantation  Trade  in  America  Bee  itt  further 
enacted  .  .  .  That  all  Shipps  comeing  into  or  goeing  out  of  any 
of  the  said  Plantations  and  ladeing  or  unladeing  any  Goods  or 
Commodities  whether  the  same  bee  His  Majesties  Shipps  of  Warr 
or  Merchants  Shipps  and  the  Masters  and  Commanders  thereof 
and  their  Ladings  shall  bee  subject  and  lyable  to  the  same  Rules 
Visitations  Searches  Penalties  and  Forfeitures  as  to  the  entring 
lading  or  dischargeing  theire  respective  Shipps  and  Ladings  as 
Shipps  and  their  Ladings  and  the  Commanders  and  Masters  of 
Shipps  are  subject  and  lyable  unto  in  this  Kingdome  .  .  .  [by 
virtue  of  the  act  14  Chas.  II.,  ch.  n].  .  .  .  And  that  the  Officers 
for  collecting  and  manageing  His  Majesties  Revenue  and  inspect 
ing  the  Plantation  Trade  in  any  of  the  said  Plantations  shall  have 
the  same  Powers  and  Authorities  for  visiting  and  searching  of 
Shipps  and  takeing  their  Entries  and  for  seizing  and  securing  or 
bringing  on  Shoare  any  of  the  Goods  prohibited  to  bee  imported 
or  exported  into  or  out  of  any  the  said  Plantations  or  for  which 
any  Duties  are  payable  or  ought  to  have  beene  paid  by  any  of  the 


92  NAVIGATION  ACT  [April  10/20 

before  mentioned  Acts  as  are  provided  for  the  Officers  of  the 
Customes  in  England  by  the  said  last  mentioned  Act  ...  [of  14 
Chas.  II.,  ch.  ii,]  .  .  .  and  alsoe  to  enter  Houses  or  Warehouses 
to  search  for  and  seize  any  such  Goods.  .  .  . 

*  *  *  #  #  *  *  * 

XV.  [(AND  l)  bee  itt  further  enacted  .  .  .  That  all  Persons 
and  theire  Assignees  claymeing  any  Right  or  (Property 2)  in  any 
Islands  or  Tracts  of  Land  upon  the  Continent  of  America  by 
Charter  or  Letters  Patents  shall  not  att  any  tyme  hereafter  alien 
sell  or  dispose  of  any  of  the  said  Islands  Tracts  of  Land  or 
Proprieties    other    than    to    the    Naturall    Borne     Subjects    of 
England  Ireland   Dominion  of    Wales    or    Towne    of    Berwick 
upon  Tweed  without  the  License  and   Consent  of  His  Majesty 
.  .  .  signifyed  by  His  or  Their  Order  in  Councill  first  had  and 
obteyned.  .   .   .] 

XVI.  [And  for  a  more  effectuall  prevention  of  Frauds  which 
may  bee  used  to  elude  the  Intention  of  this  Act  by  colouring 
Foreigne  Shipps  under  English  Names  Bee  itt  further  enacted 
.  .  .  That  from  and  after  .  .  .  [March  25,  1698,]  .  .  .  noe  Shipp 
or  Vessell  whatsoever  shall  bee  deemed  or  passe  as  a  Shipp  of  the 
Built  of  England  Ireland  Wales  Berwick  Guernsey  Jersey  or  of 
any  of  His  Majesties  Plantations  in  America  soe  as  to  bee  quali- 
fyed  to  trade  to  from  or  in  any  of  the  said  Plantations  untill  the 
Person  or  Persons  claymeing  Property  in  such  Shipp  or  Vessell 
shall  register  the  same  as  followeth  (that  is  to  say)  If  the  Shipp 
att  the  tyme  of  such  Register  doth  belong  to  any  Port  in  Eng 
land  Ireland  Wales  or  to  the  Towne  of  Berwick  upon  Tweed 
then  Proofe  shall  bee  made  upon  Oath  of  One  or  more  of  the 
Owners  of  such  Shipp  or  Vessell  before  the  Collector  and  Comp 
troller  of  His  Majesties  Customes  in  such  Port  or  if  att  the  tyme 
of  such  Register  the  Shipp  belong  to  any  of  His  Majesties  Planta 
tions  in  America  or  to  the  Islands  of  Guernsey  or  Jersey  then  the 
like  Proofe  to  bee  made  before  the  Governour  together  with  the 
Principall  Officer  of  His  Majesties  Revenue  resideing  on  such 
Plantation  or  Island  .  .  .] 3  .   .  . 

******** 


1  Omitted  in  the  Ms.  2  The  Ms.  has  Propriety. 

*  The  passage  in  brackets  is  annexed  to  the  original  act  in  a  separate  schedule. 


1696]  TREATV    OF   UTRECHT  93 

No.  26.     Treaty  of   Utrecht 

March  si/April  n,  1713 

BY  the  second  partition  treaty  between  William  III.  and  Louis  XIV.,  in 
1700,  it  had  been  agreed  that  the  Spanish  succession,  on  the  death  of  Charles 
II.,  should  go  to  the  Archduke  Charles,  son  of  the  Emperor  Leopold.  But 
Charles  II.  by  will  bequeathed  all  his  possessions  to  Philip,  Duke  of  Anjou, 
grandson  of  Louis,  though  with  the  proviso  that  the  crowns  of  France  and 
Spain  should  never  be  united;  and,  on  the  death  of  Charles,  Louis  claimed 
the  inheritance  for  Philip.  The  seizure  of  the  barrier  fortresses,  early  in  1701, 
was  soon  followed  by  war  in  Italy  between  Leopold  and  the  combined  French 
and  Spanish  forces.  William  placed  Marlborough  in  command  of  the  Eng 
lish  forces  in  the  Netherlands,  and  in  September  formed,  with  Austria  and  the 
Dutch  Republic,  the  so-called  Grand  Alliance.  The  death  of  William,  in 
March,  1702,  did  not  interrupt  the  war,  and  the  Grand  Alliance  was  shortly 
joined  by  most  of  the  German  princes.  The  European  phases  of  the  war  of 
the  Spanish  Succession,  and  the  careers  of  Marlborough  and  Prince  Eugene 
of  Savoy,  do  not  call  for  discussion  here.  In  America,  where  the  war  is 
known  as  Queen  Anne's  war,  the  most  important  movements  were  in  connec 
tion  with  the  repeated  attempts  to  conquer  some  part  of  the  French  pos 
sessions.  After  two  unsuccessful  expeditions,  in  1704  and  1707,  against 
Acadia,  Port  Royal  finally  surrendered,  in  1710,  to  the  English;  but  a  com 
bined  land  and  naval  demonstration  against  Canada  came  to  nothing.  In 
September,  1711,  preliminary  articles  of  peace  were  signed;  the  conferences 
of  the  commissioners  began  in  January,  1712,  at  Utrecht;  and  March  31  / 
April  n,  1713,  the  treaty  was  concluded.  Only  the  principal  articles  relating 
to  America  are  given  here. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Chalmers's  Collection  of  Treaties,  I.,  340-386. 
Mahon's  History  of  England  {during  the]  Reign  of  Anne  covers  the  period 
of  the  war;  see  also  Lecky's  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century  (Amer.  ed.), 
I.,  26-54,  106-158;  Parkman's  Half  Century  of  Conflict. 

X.  The  said  most  Christian  King  shall  restore  to  the  kingdom 
and  Queen  of  Great  Britain,  to  be  possessed  in  full  right  for 
ever,  the  bay  and  streights  of  Hudson,  together  with  all  lands, 
seas,  sea-coasts,  rivers,  and  places  situate  in  the  said  bay  and 
streights,  and  which  belong  thereunto,  no  tracts  of  land  or  of 
sea  being  excepted,  which  are  at  present  possessed  by  the  sub 
jects  of  France.  .  .  .  But  it  is  agreed  on  both  sides,  to  deter 
mine  within  a  year,  by  commissaries  to  be  forthwith  named  by 
each  party,  the  limits  which  are  to  be  fixed  between  the  said  Bay 
of  Hudson  and  the  places  appertaining  to  the  French.  .  .  .  The 


94  TREATY   OF   UTRECHT        [March  31 /April  11 

same  commissaries  shall  also  have  orders  to  describe  and  settle, 
in  like  manner,  the  boundaries  between  the  other  British  and 
French  colonies  in  those  parts. 

XI.  The  abovementioned  most  Christian  King  shall  take  care 
that  satisfaction  be  given,  according  to  the  rule  of  justice  and 
equity,  to  the  English  company  trading  to  the  Bay  of  Hudson, 
for  all  damages  and  spoil  done  to  their  colonies,  ships,  persons, 
and  goods,  by  the  hostile  incursions  and  depredations  of  the 
French,  in  time  of  peace  .  .  . 

XII.  The  most  Christian  King  shall  take  care  to  have  delivered 
to  the  Queen  of  Great  Britain,  on  the  same  day  that  the  ratifica 
tions  of  this  treaty  shall  be  exchanged,   solemn  and  authentic 
letters,  or  instruments,  by  virtue  whereof  it  shall  appear,  that  the 
island  of  St.  Christopher's  is  to  be  possessed  alone  hereafter  by 
British   subjects,   likewise  all   Nova   Scotia   or  Acadie,   with   its 
ancient  boundaries,  as  also  the  city  of  Port  Royal,  now  called 
Annapolis  Royal,  and  all  other  things  in  those  parts,  which  de 
pend  on  the  said  lands  and  islands  .  .  .  ;  and  that  in  such  ample 
manner  and  form,  that  the  subjects  of  the  most  Christian  King 
shall  hereafter  be  excluded  from  all  kind  of  fishing  in  the  said 
seas,  bays,  and  other  places,  on  the  coasts  of  Nova  Scotia,  that  is 
to  say,  on  those  which  lie  towards  the  east,  within  30  leagues, 
beginning  from  the  island  commonly  called  Sable,  inclusively,  and 
thence  stretching  along  towards  the  south-west. 

XIII.  The    island   called    Newfoundland,    with    the   adjacent 
islands,  shall  from  this  time  forward  belong  of  right  wholly  to 
Britain;   and  to  that  end  the  town  and  fortress  of  Placentia,  and 
whatever  other  places  in  the  said  island  are  in  the  possession  of 
the  French,  shall  be  yielded  and  given  up,  within  seven  months 
from  the  exchange  of  the  ratifications  of  this  treaty,  or  sooner, 
if  possible,  by  the  most  Christian  King,  to  those  who  have  a 
commission  from  the  Queen  of  Great  Britain  for  that  purpose. 
.  .  .     Moreover,  it  shall  not  be  lawful  for  the  subjects  of  France  to 
fortify  any  place  in  the  said  island  of  Newfoundland,  or  to  erect 
any  buildings  there,  besides  stages  made  of  boards,  and  huts 
necessary  and  usual  for  drying  of  fish;    or  to  resort  to  the  said 
island,   beyond   the   time   necessary   for   fishing,   and   drying  of 
fish.     But  it  shall  be  allowed  to  the  subjects  of  France  to  catch 
fish,  and  to  dry  them  on  land,  in  that  part  only,  and  in  no  other 


1713]  CHARTER   OF   GEORGIA  95 

besides  that,  of  the  said  island  of  Newfoundland,  which  stretches 
from  the  place  called  Cape  Bonavista  to  the  northern  point  of 
the  said  island,  and  from  thence  running  down  by  the  western 
side,  reaches  as  far  as  the  place  called  Point  Riche.  But  the 
island  called  Cape  Breton,  as  also  all  others,  both  in  the  mouth 
of  the  river  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  in  the  gulph  of  the  same  name, 
shall  hereafter  belong  of  right  to  the  French,  and  the  most  Chris 
tian  King  shall  have  all  manner  of  liberty  to  fortify  any  place  or 
places  there. 

XIV.  It  is  expressly  provided,  that  in  all  the  said  places  and 
colonies  to  be  yielded  and  restored  by  the  most  Christian  King, 
in  pursuance  of  this  treaty,  the  subjects  of  the  said  King  may 
have  liberty  to  remove  themselves,  within  a  year,  to  any  other 
place,  as  they  shall  think  fit,  together  with  all  their  moveable 
effects.  But  those  who  are  willing  to  remain  there,  and  to  be 
subject  to  the  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain,  are  to  enjoy  the  free 
exercise  of  their  religion,  according  to  the  usage  of  the  church  of 
Rome,  as  far  as  the  laws  of  Great  Britain  do  allow  the  same. 
******** 


No.  27.     Charter  of  Georgia 

June  9/20,  1732 

THE  plan  for  a  colony  in  Georgia  originated  with  James  Edward  Ogle- 
thorpe,  an  English  gentleman  of  good  family,  who  had  served  with  distinc 
tion  under  Prince  Eugene  of  Savoy,  and  later  had  entered  the  House  of  Com 
mons.  Oglethorpe's  sympathies  having  been  enlisted  on  behalf  of  imprisoned 
debtors  and  discharged  prisoners,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  establishing  in 
America  a  colony  where  worthy  persons  of  those  classes  could  get  a  new  start 
in  life.  The  charter  granted  to  trustees  certain  territory  south  of  the  Savan 
nah  river  which  had  originally  formed  part  of  South  Carolina,  but  had  been 
retained  by  the  Crown  when  the  Carolinas  were  surrendered  by  the  pro 
prietors  in  1729.  To  this  was  added  the  one-eighth  interest  retained  by 
Carteret  at  the  time  of  the  surrender,  and  which  he  now  conveyed  to  the  trus 
tees.  The  charter  was  surrendered  in  1752,  and  Georgia  became  a  royal 
province. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Poore's  Federal  and  State  Constitutions,  I.,  369- 
377.  The  Journal  of  the  trustees  has  been  privately  printed  (1886).  The 
Colonial  Records  of  Georgia,  I.,  cover  the  charter  period.  Various  contem 
porary  accounts  are  reprinted  in  the  Collections  of  the  Georgia  Hist.  Society, 


96  CHARTER    OF   GEORGIA  [June  9/20 

and  in  Force's  Tracts,  I.  See  also  early  documents  in  Charles  Lee's  Report 
on  Claims  to  Lands  in  the  Southwestern  Parts  of  the  United  States,  in  Amer. 
State  Papers,  Public  Lands,  L,  34-67. 


GEORGE  the  second,  [  &c]  .  .  . 

Whereas  we  are  credibly  informed,  that  many  of  our  poor  sub 
jects  are,  through  misfortunes  and  want  of  employment,  reduced 
to  great  necessity,  insomuch  as  by  their  labor  they  are  not  able  to 
provide  a  maintenance  for  themselves  and  families;  and  if  they 
had  means  to  defray  their  charges  of  passage,  and  other  expences, 
incident  to  new  settlements,  they  would  be  glad  to  settle  in  any 
of  our  provinces  in  America  where  by  cultivating  the  lands,  at 
present  waste  and  desolate,  they  might  not  only  gain  a  comfort 
able  subsistence  for  themselves  and  families,  but  also  strengthen 
our  colonies  and  increase  the  trade,  navigation  and  wealth  of 
these  our  realms.  And  whereas  our  provinces  in  North  America, 
have  been  frequently  ravaged  by  Indian  enemies;  more  espe 
cially  that  of  South-Carolina,  which  in  the  late  war,  by  the 
neighboring  savages,  was  laid  waste  by  fire  and  sword,  and  great 
numbers  of  English  inhabitants,  miserably  massacred,  and  our 
loving  subjects  who  now  inhabit  the'm,  by  reason  of  the  smallness 
of  their  numbers,  will  in  case  of  a  new  war,  be  exposed  to  the 
late  [like?]  calamities;  inasmuch  as  their  whole  southern  frontier 
continueth  unsettled,  and  lieth  open  to  the  said  savages  —  ... 
Know  ye  therefore,  that  we  ...  by  these  presents  ...  do  ... 
ordain  .  .  .  that  our  right  trusty  and  well  beloved  John,  lord- 
viscount  Purcival,  of  our  kingdom  of  Ireland,  our  trusty  and 
well  beloved  Edward  Digby,  George  Carpenter,  James  Ogle- 
thorpe,  George  Heathcote,  Thomas  Tower,  Robert  Moore, 
Robert  Hucks,  Roger  Holland,  William  Sloper,  Francis  Eyles, 
John  Laroche,  James  Vernon,  William  Beletha,  esquires,  A.  M. 
John  Burton,  B.  D.  Richard  Bundy,  A.  M.  Arthur  Bedford, 
A.  M.  Samuel  Smith,  A.  M.  Adam  Anderson  and  Thomas  Corane, 
gentleman ;  and  such  other  persons  as  shall  be  elected  in  the  man 
ner  herein  after  mentioned,  and  their  successors  to  be  elected  in 
the  manner  herein  after  directed;  be,  and  shall  be  one  body 
politic  and  corporate,  in  deed  and  in  name,  by  the  name  of  the 
Trustees  for  establishing  the  colony  of  Georgia  in  America; 
.  .  .  and  that  they  and  their  successors  by  that  name  shall  and 


r/33]  CHARTER    OF   GEORGIA  97 

may  forever  hereafter,  be  persons  able  and  capable  m  the  law, 
to  purchase,  have,  take,  receive  and  enjoy,  to  them  and  their 
successors,  any  manors,  messuages,  lands,  tenements,  rents,  ad- 
vowsons,  liberties,  privileges,  jurisdictions,  franchises,  and  other 
hereditaments  whatsoever,  lying  and  being  in  Great  Britain,  or 
any  part  thereof,  of  whatsoever  nature,  kind  or  quality,  or  value 
they  be,  in  fee  and  in  perpetuity,  not  exceeding  the  yearly  value 
of  one  thousand  pounds,  beyond  reprises;  also  estates  for  lives, 
and  for  years,  and  all  other  manner  of  goods,  chattels  and  things 
whatsoever  they  be;  for  the  better  settling  and  supporting,  and 
maintaining  the  said  colony,  and  other  uses  aforesaid;  and  to 
give,  grant,  let  and  demise  the  said  manors,  messuages,  lands, 
tenements,  hereditaments,  goods,  chattels  and  things  whatsoever 
aforesaid,  by  lease  or  leases,  for  term  of  years,  in  possession  at 
the  time  of  granting  thereof,  and  not  in  reversion,  not  exceeding 
the  term  of  thirty-one  years,  from  the  time  of  granting  thereof; 
.  .  .  and  that  they  ...  by  the  name  aforesaid,  shall  and  may 
forever  hereafter,  be  persons  able,  capable  in  the  law,  to  pur 
chase,  have,  take,  receive,  and  enjoy,  to  them  and  their  succes 
sors,  any  lands,  territories,  possessions,  tenements,  jurisdictions, 
franchises  and  hereditaments  whatsoever,  lying  and  being  in 
America,  of  what  quantity,  quality  or  value  whatsoever  they  be, 
for  the  better  settling  and  supporting  and  maintaining  the  said 
colony;  .  .  .  And  our  will  and  pleasure  is,  that  the  first  presi 
dent  of  the  said  corporation  .  .  .  shall  be  ...  the  said  Lord 
John  Viscount  Percival;  and  that  the  said  president  shall,  within 
thirty  days  after  the  passing  this  charter,  cause  a  summons  to  be 
issued  to  the  several  members  of  the  said  corporation  herein 
particularly  named,  to  meet  at  such  time  and  place  as  he  shall 
appoint,  to  consult  about  and  transact  the  business  of  said  cor 
poration.  And  ...  we  ...  direct,  that  the  common  council  of 
this  corporation  shall  consist  of  fifteen  in  number;  and  we  do 
.  .  .  appoint  .  .  .  John  Lord  Viscount  Percival,  .  .  .  Edward 
Digby,  George  Carpenter,  James  Oglethorpe,  George  Heathcote, 
Thomas  Laroche,  James  Vernon,  William  Beletha,  esqrs.,  and 
Stephen  Hales,  Master  of  Arts,  to  be  the  common  council  of  the 
said  corporation,  to  continue  in  the  said  office  during  their  good 
behavior.  And  whereas  it  is  our  royal  intention,  that  the  mem 
bers  of  the  said  corporation  should  be  increased  by  election,  as 


98  CHARTER   OF   GEORGIA  [June  9/20 

soon  as  conveniently  may  be,  to  a  greater  number  than  is  hereby 
nominated;  ...  we  do  hereby  .  .  .  direct,  that  from  the  time  of 
such  increase  of  the  members  of  the  said  corporation,  the  number 
of  the  common  council  shall  be  increased  to  twenty -four;  and  that 
the  same  assembly  at  which  such  additional  members  of  the  said 
corporation  shall  be  chosen,  there  shall  likewise  be  elected  in  the 
manner  hereinbefore  directed  for  the  election  of  common  council 
men,  nine  persons  to  be  the  said  common  council  men,  and  to 
make  up  the  number  twenty-four.  And  our  further  will  and 
pleasure  is,  that  .  .  .  Edward  Digby,  esquire,  shall  be  the  first 
chairman  of  the  common  council  of  the  said  corporation;  and 
that  the  said  lord-viscount  Purcival  shall  be,  and  continue,  presi 
dent  of  the  said  corporation,  and  that  the  said  Edward  Digby 
shall  be  and  continue  chairman  of  the  common  council  of  the 
said  corporation,  respectively,  until  the  meeting  which  shall  be 
had  next  and  immediately  after  the  first  meeting  of  the  said  cor 
poration,  or  of  the  common  council  of  the  said  corporation  re 
spectively,  and  no  longer;  .  .  .  And  we  do  hereby  .  .  .  direct, 
that  the  said  corporation  every  year  lay  an  account  in  writing 
before  the  chancellor,  or  speaker,  or  commissioners,  for  the 
custody  of  the  great  seal  of  Great-Britain  .  .  .  ;  the  Chief  Jus 
tice  of  the  Court  of  Kings'  Bench,  the  Master  of  Rolls  the  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  the  chief  Baron 
of  the  Exchequer  .  .  .  ,  or  any  two  of  them;  of  all  moneys  and 
effects  by  them  received  or  expended,  for  carrying  on  the  good 
purposes  aforesaid.  And  we  do  hereby  .  .  .  give  and  grant  unto 
the  said  corporation,  and  their  successors,  full  powrer  and  au 
thority  to  constitute,  ordain  and  make,  such  and  so  many  by 
laws,  constitutions,  orders  and  ordinances,  as  to  them  ...  at 
their  general  meeting  for  that  purpose,  shall  seem  necessary  and 
convenient  for  the  well  ordaining  and  governing  of  the  said  cor 
poration;  .  .  .  and  in  and  by  such  by-laws,  rules,  orders  and 
ordinances,  to  sell,  impose  and  inflict,  reasonable  pains  and  penal 
ties  upon  any  offender  or  offenders,  who  shall  trangress,  break  or 
violate  the  said  by-laws,  constitutions,  orders  and  ordinances;  .  .  . 
so  always,  as  the  said  by-laws,  constitutions,  orders,  and  ordi 
nances,  pains  and  penalties  .  .  .  ,  be  reasonable  and  not  con 
trary  or  repugnant  to  the  laws  or  statutes  of  this  our  realm ;  and 
that  such  by-laws,  constitutions  and  ordinances,  pains  and  penal- 


1732]  CHARTER   OF   GEORGIA  gg 

ties  .  .  . ,  and  any  repeal  or  alteration  thereof,  or  any  of  them, 
may  be  likewise  agreed  to  be  established  and  confirmed  by  the 
said  general  meeting  of  the  said  corporation,  to  be  held  and  kept 
next  after  the  same  shall  be  respectively  made.  And  whereas  the 
said  corporation  intend  to  settle  a  colony,  and  to  make  an  habita 
tion  and  plantation  in  that  part  of  our  province  of  South-Carolina, 
in  America,  herein  after  described  —  Know  ye,  that  we  .  .  . 
do  give  and  grant  to  the  said  corporation  and  their  successors 
under  the  reservation,  limitation  and  declaration,  hereafter  ex 
pressed,  seven  undivided  parts,  the  whole  in  eight  equal  parts 
to  be  divided,  of  all  those  lands,  countrys  and  territories,  situate, 
lying  and  being  in  that  part  of  South-Carolina,  in  America, 
which  lies  from  the  most  northern  part  of  a  stream  or  river 
there,  commonly  called  the  Savannah,  all  along  the  sea  coast  to 
the  southward,  unto  the  most  southern  stream  of  a  certain  other 
great  water  or  river  called  the  Alatamaha,  and  westterly  from  the 
heads  of  the  said  rivers  respectively,  in  direct  lines  to  the  south 
seas;  and  all  that  share,  circuit  and  precinct  of  land,  within  the 
said  boundaries,  with  the  islands  on  the  sea,  lying  opposite  to 
the  eastern  coast  of  the  said  lands,  within  twenty  leagues  of  the 
same,  which  are  not  inhabited  already,  or  settled  by  any  authority 
derived  from  the  crown  of  Great-Britain:  ...  to  be  holden  of 
us,  our  heirs  and  successors  as  of  our  honour  of  Hampton-court, 
in  our  county  of  Middlesex  in  free  and  common  soccage,  and  not 
in  capite,  yielding,  and  paying  therefor  to  us  ...  yearly  forever, 
the  sum  of  four  shillings  for  every  hundred  acres  of  the  said 
lands,  which  the  said  corporation  shall  grant,  demise,  plant  or 
settle;  the  said  payment  not  to  commence  or  to  be  made,  until 
ten  years  after  such  grant,  demise,  planting  or  settling;  and  to 
be  answered  and  paid  ...  in  such  manner  and  in  such  species 
of  money  or  notes,  as  shall  be  current  in  payment,  by  proclama 
tion  from  time  to  time,  in  our  said  province  of  South-Carolina. 
All  which  lands,  countries,  territories  and  premises  ...  we  do 
by  these  presents,  make,  erect  and  create  one  independent  and 
separate  province,  by  the  name  of  Georgia.  .  .  .  And  that  all  and 
every  person  or  persons,  who  shall  at  any  time  hereafter  inhabit  or 
reside  within  our  said  province,  shall  be,  and  are  hereby  declared 
to  be  free,  and  shall  not  be  subject  to  or  be  bound  to  obey  any  laws, 
orders,  statutes  or  constitutions,  which  have  been  heretofore  made. 


100  CHARTER    OF    GEORGIA  [June  9/20 

ordered  or  enacted  by,  for,  or  as,  the  laws,  orders,  statutes  or 
constitutions  of  our  said  province  of  South-Carolina,  (save  and 
except  only  the  [commander]  in  chief  of  the  militia,  of  our  said 
province  of  Georgia,  to  our  governor  for  the  time  being  of  South- 
Carolina,  in  manner  hereafter  declared;)  but  shall  be  subject  to, 
and  bound  to  obey,  such  laws,  orders,  statutes  and  constitutions  as 
shall  from  time  to  time  be  made,  ordered  and  enacted,  for  the 
better  government  of  the  said  province  of  Georgia,  in  the  manner 
hereinafter  declared.  And  we  do  hereby  .  .  .  ordain  .  .  .  that 
for  and  during  the  term  of  twenty-one  years,  to  commence  from 
the  date  of  these  our  letters  patent,  the  said  corporation  assembled 
for  that  purpose,  shall  and  may  form  and  prepare,  laws,  statutes 
and  ordinances,  fit  and  necessary  for  and  concerning  the  govern 
ment  of  the  said  colony,  and  not  repugnant  to  the  laws  and  statutes 
of  England ;  and  the  same  shall  and  may  present  under  their  com 
mon  seal  to  us  .  .  . ,  in  our  or  their  privy  council  for  our  or  their 
approbation  or  disallowance :  and  the  said  laws,  statutes  and  ordi 
nances,  being  approved  of  by  us  .  .  . ,  in  our  or  their  privy 
council,  shall  from  thence  forth  be  in  full  force  and  virtue  within 
our  said  province  of  Georgia.  .  .  .  And  for  the  greater  ease  and 
encouragement  of  our  loving  subjects  and  such  others  as  shall 
come  to  inhabit  in  our  said  colony,  we  do  ...  ordain,  that  for 
ever  hereafter,  there  shall  be  a  liberty  of  conscience  allowed  in  the 
worship  of  God,  to  all  persons  inhabiting,  or  which  shall  inhabit 
or  be  resident  within  our  said  province,  and  that  all  such  persons, 
except  papists,  shall  have  a  free  exercise  of  religion,  so  they  be  con 
tented  with  the  quiet  and  peaceable  enjoyment  of  the  same,  not 
giving  offence  or  scandal  to  the  government.  And  our  further 
will  and  pleasure  is,  and  we  do  hereby  .  .  .  declare  and  grant, 
that  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  the  said  common  council  .  .  . 
to  distribute,  convey,  assign  and  set  over  such  particular  portions 
of  lands,  tenements  and  hereditaments  by  these  presents  granted 
to  the  said  corporation,  unto  such  our  loving  subjects,  natural  born, 
denizens  or  others  that  shall  be  willing  to  become  our  subjects, 
and  live  under  our  allegiance  in  the  said  colony,  upon  such  terms, 
and  for  such  estates,  and  upon  such  rents,  reservations  and  condi 
tions  as  the  same  may  be  lawfully  granted,  and  as  to  the  said 
common  council  .  .  .  shall  seem  fit  and  proper.  .  .  .  Provided 
.  .  .  that  no  greater  quantity  of  lands  be  granted,  either  en- 


1732]  CHARTER   OF'  GEORGIA  IO1 

tirely  or  in  parcels,  to  or  for  the  use,  or  in  trust  for  any  one  per> 
son,  than  five  hundred  acres.  .  .  .  And  we  do  hereby  grant  and 
ordain,  that  such  person  or  persons,  for  the  time  being  as  shall  be 
thereunto  appointed  by  the  said  corporation,  shall  .  .  .  have  full 
power  and  authority  to  administer  and  give  the  oaths,  appointed 
by  an  act  of  parliament,  made  in  the  first  year  of  the  reign  of  our 
late  royal  father,  to  be  taken  instead  of  the  oaths  of  allegiance 
and  supremacy;  and  also  the  oath  of  abjuration,  to  all  and 
every  person  and  persons  which  shall  at  any  time  be  inhabiting 
or  residing  with  our  said  colony;  and  in  like  cases  to  administer 
the  solemn  affirmation  to  any  of  the  persons  commonly  called 
quakers,  in  such  manner  as  by  the  laws  of  our  realm  of  Great- 
Britain,  the  same  may  be  administered.  And  we  do  ...  ordain 
.  .  .  that  the  said  corporation  and  their  successors,  shall  have  full 
power  and  authority,  for  and  during  the  term  of  twenty-one  years 
.  .  .  ,  to  erect  and  constitute  judicatories  and  courts  of  record, 
or  other  courts,  to  be  held  in  the  name  of  us  ...  for  the  hear 
ing  and  determining  of  all  manner  of  crimes,  offences,  pleas, 
processes,  plaints,  actions,  matters,  causes  and  things  whatsoever, 
arising  or  happening,  within  the  said  province  of  Georgia,  or 
between  persons  of  Georgia;  whether  the  same  be  criminal  or 
civil,  and  whether  the  said  crimes  be  capital  or  not  capital,  and 
whether  the  said  pleas  be  real,  personal  or  mixed :  and  for  award 
ing  and  making  out  executions  thereupon  .  .  .  And  our  further 
will  and  pleasure  is,  that  the  rents,  issues  and  all  other  profits, 
which  shall  at  any  time  hereafter  come  to  the  said  corporation, 
[shall  be  applied  in  such  manner  as  the  said  corporation*}  or  the 
major  part  of  them  which  shall  be  present  at  any  meeting  for 
that  purpose  assembled,  shall  think  will  most  improve  and  en 
large  the  said  colony,  and  best  answer  the  good  purposes  herein 
before  mentioned,  and  for  defraying  all  other  charges  about  the 
same.  And  our  will  and  pleasure  is,  that  the  said  corporation 
and  their  successors,  shall  from  time  to  time  give  in  to  one  of  the 
principal  secretaries  of  state,  and  to  the  commissioners  of  trade 
and  plantations,  accounts  of  the  progresses  of  the  said  colony. 
.  .  .  And  our  will  and  pleasure  is,  that  the  common  council  of 
the  said  corporation  for  the  time  being  .  .  .  shall  .  .  .  unto  the 

1  These  words  are  not  in  the  original,  but  appear  to  be  necessary  to  complete 
the  sense. 


102  CHARTER    OF   GEORGIA  [June  9/20 

full  end  and  expiration  of  twenty-one  years  .  .  .  ,  have  full  power 
and  authority  to  nominate,  make,  constitute  and  commission, 
ordain  and  appoint,  by  such  name  or  names,  style  or  styles,  as 
to  them  shall  seem  meet  and  fitting,  all  and  singular  such  gov 
ernors,  judges,  magistrates,  ministers  and  officers,  civil  and  mili 
tary,  both  by  sea  and  land,  within  the  said  districts,  as  shall  by 
them  be  thought  fit  and  needful  to  be  made  or  used  for  the  said 
government  of  the  said  colony;  save  always,  and  except  such 
offices  only  as  shall  by  us  ...  be  from  time  to  time  constituted 
and  appointed,  for  the  managing  collecting  and  receiving  such 
revenues,  as  shall  from  time  to  time  arise  within  the  said  province 
of  Georgia,  and  become  due  to  us  ...  Provided  always  .  .  .  , 
that  every  governor  of  the  said  province  of  Georgia,  to  be  ap 
pointed  by  the  common  council  of  the  said  corporation,  before 
he  shall  enter  upon  or  execute  the  said  office  of  governor,  shall 
be  approved  by  us  .  .  . ,  and  shall  take  such  oaths,  and  shall 
qualify  himself  in  such  manner,  in  all  respects,  as  any  governor 
or  commander  in  chief  of  any  of  our  colonies  or  plantations  in 
America,  are  by  law  required  to  do;  and  shall  give  good  and 
sufficient  security  for  observing  the  several  acts  of  parliament 
relating  to  trade  and  navigation,  and  to  observe  and  obey  all  in 
structions  that  shall  be  sent  to  him  by  us  .  .  . ,  or  any  acting  under 
our  or  their  authority,  pursuant  to  the  said  acts,  or  any  of  them. 
[The  corporation  may  establish  and  train  a  militia,  fortify  and 
defend  the  colony,  exercise  martial  law  in  time  of  war,  &c.] 
And  ...  we  do  ...  grant,  that  the  governor  and  commander 
in  chief  of  the  province  of  South-Carolina  .  .  .  for  the  time 
being,  shall  at  all  times  hereafter  have  the  chief  command  of 
the  militia  of  our  said  province  .  .  .  And  ...  we  ...  do  give 
and  grant,  unto  the  said  corporation  and  their  successors,  full 
power  and  authority  to  import  and  export  their  goods,  at  and 
from  any  port  or  ports  that  shall  be  appointed  by  us  ...  within 
the  said  province  of  Georgia,  for  that  purpose,  without  being 
obliged  to  touch  at  any  other  port  in  South-Carolina.  And  we 
do  ...  will  and  declare,  that  from  and  after  the  termination  of 
the  said  term  or  [of]  twenty-one  years,  such  form  of  government 
and  method  of  making  laws,  statutes  and  ordinances,  for  the 
better  governing  and  ordering  the  said  province  of  Georgia,  and 
the  inhabitants  thereof,  shall  be  established  and  observed  within 


1732]  MOLASSES   ACT  103 

the  same,  as  we  ...  shall  hereafter  ordain  and  appoint,  and 
shall  be  agreeably  to  law;  and  that  from  and  after  the  determina 
tion  of  the  said  term  of  twenty-one  years,  the  governor  of  our 
said  province  of  Georgia,  and  all  officers  civil  and  military,  within 
the  same,  shall  from  time  to  time  be  nominated  and  constituted, 
and  appointed  by  us  ... 


No.  28.     Molasses  Act 

May  17/28,   1733 

IN  the  exchange  of  fish,  lumber  and  agricultural  products  for  the  sugar, 
molasses  and  rum  of  the  West  Indies,  the  northern  English  colonies  in 
America  early  found  their  most  important  and  most  lucrative  trade.  More 
over,  it  was  by  means  of  this  trade  that  the  money  for  the  purchase  of  manu 
factured  goods  in  England  was  mainly  obtained.  The  adoption  of  a  more 
liberal  commercial  policy  by  France,  however,  in  1717,  enabled  the  sugar  of 
the  French  West  Indies  to  displace  the  British  product  in  European  markets, 
and  to  compete  successfully  in  the  markets  of  the  English  colonies;  while  the 
prohibition  of  the  importation  of  rum  into  France,  as  a  protection  to  the  pro 
duction  of  brandy,  forced  the  producers  of  molasses  in  the  French  colonies  to 
seek  a  market  in  New  England  and  New  York,  where  molasses,  little  pro 
duced  in  the  English  West  Indies,  was  much  in  demand.  The  prosperity  of 
the  French  colonies  led  to  numerous  protests  from  planters  in  the  British 
sugar  islands,  and  in  1731  a  bill  to  prohibit  the  importation  into  Great  Britain 
or  the  American  colonies  of  any  foreign  sugar,  molasses  or  rum  passed  the 
House  of  Commons,  but  was  rejected  by  the  Lords.  The  object  of  the  bill 
was  attained,  however,  by  the  passage,  in  1733,  of  the  so-called  Molasses 
Act,  by  which  practically  prohibitory  duties  were  imposed  upon  the  before- 
mentioned  articles.  The  act  was  systematically  disregarded  by  the  English 
colonies,  and  remained  largely  a  dead-letter.  The  Molasses  Act  was  to  con 
tinue  in  force  for  five  years;  but  it  was  five  times  renewed,  and  by  the  Sugar 
Act  of  1764  was  made  perpetual. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Pickering's  Statutes  at  Large,  XVI.,  374-379. 
The  act  is  cited  as  6  Geo.  II.,  c.  13.  The  best  discussion  of  the  act  is  in 
Beer's  Commercial  Policy  of  England  (Columbia  Univ.  Studies,  III.,  No.  2), 
chap.  6. 

An  act  for  the  better  securing  and  encouraging  the  trade  of  his 
Majesty's  sugar  colonies  in  America. 

WHEREAS  the  welfare  and  prosperity  of  your  Majesty's  sugar 
colonies  in  America  are  of  the  greatest  consequence  and  importance 
to  the  trade,,  navigali&n  und  strength  of  this  kingdom:  and  whereas 


104  MOLASSES   ACT  [May  17/28 

the  planters  of  the  said  sugar  colonies  have  of  late  years  fatten  under 
such  great  discouragements,  that  they  are  unable  to  improve  01 
carry  on  the  sugar  trade  upon  an  equal  footing  with  the  foreign 
sugar  colonies,  without  some  advantage  and  relief  be  given  to  them 
from  Great  Britain :  for  remedy  whereof  ...  be  it  enacted  .  .  . , 
That  from  and  after  .  .  .  [December  25,  1733,]  .  .  .  there  shall 
be  raised,  levied,  collected  and  paid,  unto  and  for  the  use  of  his 
Majesty  .  .  .  ,  upon  all  rum  or  spirits  of  the  produce  or  manu 
facture  of  any  of  the  colonies  or  plantations  in  America,  not  in 
the  possession  or  under  the  dominion  of  his  Majesty  .  .  . ,  which 
at  any  time  or  times  within  or  during  the  continuance  of  this  act, 
shall  be  imported  or  brought  into  any  of  the  colonies  or  plantations 
in  America,  which  now  are  or  hereafter  may  be  in  the  possession  or 
under  the  dominion  of  his  Majesty  .  .  .  ,  the  sum  of  nine  pence, 
money  of  Great  Britain,  .  .  .  for  every  gallon  thereof,  and  after 
that  rate  for  any  greater  or  lesser  quantity :  and  upon  all  molasses 
or  syrups  of  such  foreign  produce  or  manufacture  as  aforesaid, 
which  shall  be  imported  or  brought  into  any  of  the  said  colonies 
or  plantations  .  .  . ,  the  sum  of  six  pence  of  like  money  for  every 
gallon  thereof  .  .  .  ;  and  upon  all  sugars  and  paneles  of  such 
foreign  growth,  produce  or  manufacture  as  aforesaid,  which  shall 
be  imported  into  any  of  the  said  colonies  or  plantations  .  .  .  , 
a  duty  after  the  rate  of  five  shillings  of  like  money,  for  every 
hundred  weight  Avoirdupoize.  .  .  . 

#######* 

IV.  And  be  it  further  enacted  .  .  . ,  That  from  and  after  .  .  . 
[December  25,  1733,]  .  .  .  no  sugars,  paneles,  syrups  or  molasses, 
of  the  growth,  product  and  manufacture  of  any  of  the  colonies 
or  plantations  in  America,  nor  any  rum  or  spirits  of  America, 
except  of  the  growth  or  manufacture  of  his  Majesty's  sugar  colo 
nies  there,  shall  be  imported  by  any  person  or  persons  whatsoever 
into  the  kingdom  of  Ireland,  but  such  only  as  shall  be  fairly  and 
bona  fide  loaden  and  shipped  in  Great  Britain  in  ships  navigated 
according  to  the  several  laws  now  in  being  in  that  behalf,  under 
the  penalty  of  forfeiting  all  such  sugar,  paneles,  syrups  or  mo 
lasses,  rum  or  spirits,  or  the  value  thereof,  together  with  the  ship 
or  vessel  in  which  the  same  shall  be  imported,  with  all  her  guns, 

tackle,  furniture,  ammunition,  and  apparel.  .  .  . 

*  *  *  *  #  *  ## 


1762]  WRIT   OF  ASSISTANCE  105 

IX.  And  it  is  hereby  further  enacted  .  .  . ,  That  in  case  any 
sugar  or  paneles  of  the  growth,  produce  or  manufacture  of  any  of 
the  colonies  or  plantations  belonging  to  or  in  the  possession  of 
his   Majesty  .  .  . ,  which  shall  have  been  imported  into  Great 
Britain  after  .  .  .  [June  24,  1733,]  .  .  .  shall  at  any  time  within 
one  year  after  the  importation  thereof,  be  again  exported  out  of 
Great  Britain,  ...  all  the  residue  and  remainder  of  the  subsidy 
or  duty,  by  any  former  act  or  acts  of  parliament  granted  and 
charged  on  such  sugar  or  paneles  as  aforesaid,  shall  without  any 
delay  or  reward  be  repaid  to  such  merchant  or  merchants,  who  do 
export  the  same,  within  one  month  after  demand  thereof. 

X.  And  it  is  hereby  further  enacted  .  .  . ,  That   from   and 
after  .  .  .  [June  24,  1733,]  ...  for  every  hundred  weight  of  sugar 
refined  in  Great  Britain  .  .  . ,  which  shall  be  exported  out  of  this 
kingdom,  there  shall  be,  by  virtue  of  this  act,  repaid  at  the  custom 
house  to  the  exporter,  within  one  month  after  the  demand  thereof, 
over  and  above  the  several  sums  of  three  shillings  and  one  shilling 
per  hundred,  payable  by  two  former  acts  of  parliament,  one  of  them 
made   in   the   ninth   and   tenth   years   of   the   reign   of   his  late 
Majesty  King  William  the  Third,  and  the  other  in  the  second 
and  third  years  of  the  reign  of  her  late  Majesty  Queen  Anne,  the 
further  sum  of  two  shillings,  oath  or  solemn  affirmation  as  afore 
said,   being  first   made  by   the  refiner,   that   the   said   sugar  so 
exported,  was  produced  from  brown  and  muscovado  sugar,  and 
that  as  he  verily  believes,  the  same  was  imported  from  some  of 
the  colonies  or  plantations  in  America  belonging  to  and  in  the 
possession  of   the  crown  of  Great  Britain,  and  that  as  he  verily 
believes  the  duty  of  the  said  brown  and  muscovado  sugar  was 
duly  paid  at  the  time  of  the  importation  thereof,  and  that  the 
same  was  duly  exported.  .  .  . 

******** 


No.  29.     Writ  of  Assistance 

December  2,  1762 

IN  1755  a  writ  of  assistance,  granting  authority  to  search  for  and  seize 
uncustomed  goods,  was  issued  by  the  Superior  Court  of  Massachusetts  to 
Charles  Paxton,  surveyor  of  the  port  of  Boston.  Similar  writs  were  issued  in 
1758  to  the  collectors  at  Salem  and  Falmouth,  in  1759  to  the  surveyor-general, 


106  WRIT   OF  ASSISTANCE  [Decembers 

and  the  collectors  at  Boston  and  Newburyport,  and  in  1760  to  the  collectors 
at  Boston  and  Salem.  By  law  the  writs  continued  until  the  demise  of  the 
Crown  and  for  six  months  thereafter.  In  1761  the  former  writs,  by  reason  of 
the  death  of  George  II.,  being  about  to  expire,  the  surveyor-general,  Thomas 
Lechmere,  made  application  to  the  court  for  the  grant  of  such  writs  to  him 
self  and  his  officers  "as  usual."  On  this  application  a  number  of  merchants 
of  Boston,  and  others,  petitioned  to  be  heard.  The  application  was  argued 
at  Boston  at  the  February  term,  Jeremiah  Gridley  appearing  for  Lechmere, 
and  James  Otis  and  Oxenbridge  Thacher  for  the  petitioners  and  against  the 
writ.  Judgment  was  suspended  in  order  that  the  court  might  examine  the 
practice  in  England.  November  18,  at  the  second  term,  the  case  was  again 
argued  by  the  same  counsel,  with  the  addition  of  Robert  Auchmuty  in  favor 
of  the  writ.  The  judges  were  unanimous  in  their  opinion  that  the  writ  should 
be  granted,  as  prayed  for,  and  December  2  a  writ  was  issued  to  Paxton  in 
the  form  following.  March  6,  1762,  a  bill  "authorizing  any  judge  or  justice 
of  the  peace,  upon  information  on  oath  by  any  officer  of  the  customs,  to  issue 
a  special  writ  or  warrant  of  assistance,  and  prohibiting  all  others,"  passed  the 
General  Court;  but  the  governor,  on  the  advice  of  the  members  of  the  Supe 
rior  Court,  withheld  his  approval.  Writs  of  assistance  do  not  appear  to  have 
been  granted  elsewhere  in  the  colonies,  except  in  New  Hampshire;  they 
were,  however,  legalized  by  the  Townshend  Revenue  Act  of  1767  [No.  38]. 
General  warrants  were  condemned  in  England  in  1766,  but  general  writs  of 
assistance  continued  to  be  issued  until  1819,  when  an  order  of  the  Board  of 
Customs  practically  abolished  them. 

In  the  manuscript  from  which  the  writ  following  is  printed,  the  words  in 
brackets  are  interlined,  and  those  in  italics  erased.  The  writ  was  drawn  by 
Thomas  Hutchinson,  the  chief  justice. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Quincy's  Massachusetts  Reports,  418-421,  where 
is  also,  pp.  395-540,  an  exhaustive  examination  of  the  whole  subject  by  Jus 
tice  Horace  Gray.  Otis's  argument  at  the  February  term,  as  reported  by 
John  Adams,  is  in  the  latter's  Works,  II.,  521-525;  the  second  argument,  in 
November,  is  in  Quincy,  ut  supra,  51-57.  The  earlier  accounts,  especially 
those  in  Adams's  Works,  II.,  124,  note;  X.,  246-249,  274-276;  Tudor's  Otis, 
and  Minot's  Massachusetts,  must  be  read  in  the  light  of  Gray's  notes,  above. 

prov  Q£  j  GEORGE  the  third  by  the  grace  of  God  of 

,,        -p  [       Great  Britain  France  &  Ireland  King 

'  j^L  J       Defender  of  the  faith  &ca. 

f  ^v              To  ALL  &  singular  our  Justices  of  the  peace 

/  \                 Sheriffs  Constables  and  to  all  other  our 

I  J                 Officers  and  Subjects  within  our  said 

V  J                 Province  and  to  each  of  you  Greeting. 

KNOW  YE  that  whereas  in  and  by  an  Act  of  Parliament  made 
in  the  //«>[four]teenth  year  of  [the  reign  of]  the  late  King 


17.62]  WRIT   OF  ASSISTANCE  107 

Charles  the  second  it  is  declared  to  be  [the  Officers  of  our  Customs 
&  their  Deputies  are  authorized  and  impowered  to  go  &  enter 
aboard  any  Ship  or  Vessel  outward  or  inward  bound  for  the  pur 
poses  in  the  said  Act  mentioned  and  it  is  also  in  &  by  the  said 
Act  further  enacted  &  declared  that  it  shall  be]  lawful  [to  or]  for 
any  person  or  persons  authorized  by  Writ  of  assistants  under  the 
seal  of  our  Court  of  Exchequer  to  take  a  Constable  Headborough 
or  other  publick  Officer  inhabiting  near  unto  the  place  and  in  the 
day  time  to  enter  &  go  into  any  House  Shop  Cellar  Warehouse  or 
Room  or  other  place  and  in  case  of  resistance  to  break  open 
doors  chests  trunks  &  other  package  there  to  seize  and  from 
thence  to  bring  any  kind  of  goods  or  merchandize  whatsoever 
prohibited  &  uncustomed  and  to  put  and  secure  the  same  in  his 
Majestys  [our]  Storehouse  in  the  port  next  to  the  place  where 
such  seizure  shall  be  made. 

AND  WHEREAS  in  &  by  an  Act  of  Parliament  made  in  the  seventh 
&  eighth  year  of  [the  reign  of  the  late]  King  William  the  third 
there  is  granted  to  the  Officers  for  collecting  and  managing  our 
revenue  and  inspecting  the  plantation  trade  in  any  of  our  planta 
tions  [the  same  powers  &  authority  for  visiting  &  searching  of 
Ships  &  also]  to  enter  houses  or  warehouses  to  search  for  and 
seize  any  prohibited  or  uncustomed  goods  as  are  provided  for 
the  Officers  of  our  Customs  in  England  by  the  said  last  men 
tioned  Act  made  in  the  fourteenth  year  cf  [the  reign  of]  King 
Charles  the  Second,  and  the  like  assistance  is  required  to  be 
given  to  the  said  Officers  in  the  execution  cf  their  office  as  by 
the  said  last  mentioned  Act  is  provided  fcr  the  Officers  in 
England. 

AND  WHEREAS  in  and  by  an  Act  of  our  said  Province  of  Massa 
chusetts  bay  made  in  the  eleventh  year  of  [the  rei[rn  cf]  the  late 
King  William  the  third  it  is  enacted  &  declared  that  our  Superior 
Court  of  Judicature  Court  of  Assize  and  General  Goal  delivery 
for  our  said  Province  shall  have  cognizance  of  all  matters  and 
things  within  our  said  Province  as  fully  &  amply  to  all  intents 
&  purposes  as  our  Courts  of  King's  Bench  Common  Pleas  & 
Exchequer  within  our  Kingdom  of  England  have  or  ought  to 
have. 

AND  WHEREAS  our  Commissioners  for  managing  and  causing 
to  be  levied  &  collected  our  customs  subsidies  and  other  duties 


108  WRIT   OF  ASSISTANCE  [December  2 

have  [by  Commission  or  Deputation  under  their  hands  &  seal 
dated  at  London  the  22d  day  of  May  in  the  first  year  of  our 
Reign]  deputed  and  impowered  Charles  Paxton  Esquire  to  be 
Surveyor  &  Searcher  of  all  the  rates  and  duties  arising  and  grow 
ing  due  to  us  at  Boston  in  our  Province  aforesaid  and  [in  &  by 
said  Commission  or  Deputation]  have  given  him  power  to  enter 
into  [any  Ship  Bottom  Boat  or  other  Vessel  &  also  into]  any 
Shop  House  Warehouse  Hostery  or  other  place  whatsoever  to 
make  diligent  search  into  any  trunk  chest  pack  case  truss  or  any 
other  parcell  or  package  whatsoever  for  any  goods  wares  or 
merchandize  prohibited  to  be  imported  or  exported  or  whereof 
the  Customs  or  other  Duties  have  not  been  duly  paid  and  the 
same  to  seize  to  our  use  In  all  things  proceeding  as  the  Law 
directs. 

THEREFORE  we  strictly  Injoin  &  Command  you  &  every  one  of 
you  that,  all  excuses  apart,  you  &  every  one  of  you  permit  the 
said  Charles  Paxton  according  to  the  true  intent  &  form  of  the 
said  commission  or  deputation  and  the  laws  &  statutes  in  that 
behalf  made  &  provided,  [as  well  by  night  as  by  day  from  time 
to  time  to  enter  &  go  on  board  any  Ship  Boat  or  other  Vessel 
riding  lying  or  being  within  or  coming  to  the  said  port  of  Boston 
or  any  Places  or  Creeks  thereunto  appertaining  such  Ship  Boat 
or  Vessel  then  &  there  found  to  search  &  oversee  and  the  persons 
therein  being  strictly  to  examine  touching  the  premises  aforesaid 
&  also  according  to  the  form  effect  and  true  intent  of  the  said  com 
mission  or  deputation]  in  the  day  time  to  enter  &  go  into  the 
vaults  cellars  warehouses  shops  &  other  'places  where  any  pro 
hibited  goods  wares  or  merchandizes  or  any  goods  wares  or 
merchandizes  for  which  the  customs  or  other  duties  shall  not 
have  been  duly  &  truly  satisfied  and  paid  lye  concealed  or  are 
suspected  to  be  concealed,  according  to  the  true  intent  of  the 
law  to  inspect  &  oversee  &  search  for  the  said  goods  wares  & 
merchandize,  And  further  to  do  and  execute  all  things  which 
of  right  and  according  to  the  laws  &  statutes  in  this  behalf  shall 
be  to  be  done.  And  we  further  strictly  INJOIN  &  COMMAND  you 
and  every  one  of  you  that  to  the  said  Charles  Paxton  Esqr  you 
&  every  one  of  you  from  time  to  time  be  aiding  assisting  & 
helping  in  the  execution  of  the  premises  as  is  meet.  And  this 
you  or  any  of  [you]  in  no  wise  omit  at  your  perils.  WITNESS 


1762]  TREATY   OF   PARIS  log 

Thomas  Hutchinson  Esq  at  Boston  the  day  of  December  in 

the  Second  year  of  our  Reign  Annoque  Dom  1761 

By  order  of  Court 
N.  H.1  Cler. 


No.  30.     Treaty  of  Paris 

February  10,   1763 

THE  Ohio  and  Mississippi  valleys,  claimed  by  the  French  in  right  of  ex 
ploration  and  colonization,  were  also  claimed  by  the  English  under  early 
colonial  grants  and  charters;  and  these  conflicting  claims  the  boundary  com 
missioners,  appointed  under  the  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  had  been  unable 
to  reconcile.  The  Seven  Years'  war,  known  in  America  as  the  French  and 
Indian  war,  began  two  years  before  the  declaration  of  war  by  England  against 
France  formally  opened  hostilities  in  Europe.  Washington's  unsuccessful 
expedition  against  Fort  Duquesne,  in  1754,  was  followed  in  1755  by  the  de 
feat  of  Braddock  and  the  failure  of  the  contemplated  attack  upon  Canada; 
but  some  French  forts  in  Nova  Scotia  were  taken  and  the  Acadians  deported. 
The  campaigns  of  1756  and  1757  were  also  without  substantial  results  for  the 
English.  The  energy  of  Pitt,  whom  Newcastle  was  obliged,  in  June,  1757,  to 
receive  into  the  ministry  as  secretary  of  state,  turned  the  tide,  ^n  1758, 
Louisburg,  Niagara  and  Fort  Duquesne  were  taken;  in  September,  1759, 
Quebec  fell;  and  with  the  surrender  of  Montreal,  in  1760,  the  French 
in  America  came  to  an  end.  The  war  in  Europe  went  on  for  three 
longer.  In  June,  1761,  at  the  instance  of  France,  negotiations  for  peace  were 
opened;  but  the  signature  of  the  "family  compact"  between  France  and 
Spain,  in  August,  caused  them  to  be  broken  off.  Pitt  urged  immediate  war 
with  Spain;  but  his  views  were  not  supported  by  the  ministry,  and  he  re 
signed.  War  against  Spain  was,  however,  declared  in  1762,  and  English 
forces  took  Havana  and  Manila.  In  September,  negotiations  were  resumed ; 
on  November  3,  preliminaries  of  peace  were  signed  at  Fontainebleau ;  and 
on  February  10,  1763,  the  treaty  was  concluded  at  Paris.  The  chief  articles 
relating  to  America  are  given  in  the  extracts  following.  In  compensation  for 
the  loss  of  Florida,  Spain  received  from  France  so  much  of  Louisiana  as  lay 
west  of  the  Mississippi  river,  including  both  sides  of  the  river  at  its  mouth. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Chalmers's  Collection  of  Treaties,  I.,  467-483. 

IV.  His  most  Christian  Majesty  renounces  all  pretensions, 
which  he  has  heretofore  formed,  or  might  form,  to  Nova  Scotia 
or  Acadia,  in  all  its  parts,  and  guaranties  the  whole  of  it,  and 
with  all  its  dependencies,  to  the  King  of  Great  Britain:  more- 

1  Nathaniel  Hatch,  one  of  the  clerks  of  court.  —  ED. 


1 10  TREATY    OF    PARIS  [February  Ac 

over,  his  most  Christian  Majesty  cedes  and  guaranties  to  his  said 
Britannic  Majesty,  in  full  right,  Canada,  with  all  its  dependen 
cies,  as  well  as  the  Island  of  Cape  Breton,  and  all  the  other 
islands  and  coasts  in  the  gulph  and  river  St.  Laurence,  and,  in 
general,  every  thing  that  depends  on  the  said  countries,  lands, 
islands,  and  coasts,  with  the  sovereignty,  property,  possession, 
and  all  rights,  acquired  by  treaty  or  otherwise,  which  the  most 
Christian  King,  and  the  crown  of  France,  have  had  till  now  over 
the  said  countries,  islands,  lands,  places,  coasts,  and  their  inhabit 
ants  .  .  .  His  Britannic  Majesty,  on  his  side,  agrees  to  grant 
the  liberty  of  the  Catholic  religion  to  the  inhabitants  of  Canada  : 
he  will  consequently  give  the  most  precise  and  most  effectual 
orders,  that  his  new  Roman  Catholic  subjects  may  profess  the 
worship  of  their  religion,  according  to  the  rites  of  the  Romish 
church,  as  far  as  the  laws  of  Great  Britain  permit.  His  Britan 
nic  Majesty  further  agrees,  that  the  French  inhabitants,  or  others 
who  had  been  subjects  of  the  most  Christian  King  in  Canada, 
may  retire,  with  all  safety  and  freedom,  wherever  they  shall  think 
proper,  and  may  sell  their  estates,  provided  it  be  to  subjects  of 
his  Britannic  Majesty,  and  bring  away  their  effects,  as  well  as 
their  persons,  without  being  restrained  in  their  emigration,  under 
anj>  pretence  whatsoever,  except  that  of  debts,  or  of  criminal  pros 
ecutions  :  the  term  limited  for  this  emigration  shall  be  fixed  to 
the  space  of  eighteen  months,  to  be  computed  from  the  day  of 
the  exchange  of  the  ratifications  of  the  present  treaty. 

V.  The  subjects  of  France  shall  have  the  liberty  of  fishing  and 
drying,  on  a  part  of  the  coasts  of  the  Island  of  Newfoundland, 
such  as  it  is  specified  in  the  XIHth  article  of  the  treaty  of 
Utrecht;  which  article  is  renewed  and  confirmed  by  the  present 
treaty  (except  what  relates  to  the  island  of  Cape  Breton,  as  well 
as  to  the  other  islands  and  coasts  in  the  mouth  and  in  the  gulph 
of  St.  Laurence:)  and  his  Britannic  Majesty  consents  to  leave 
to  the  subjects  of  the  most  Christian  King  the  liberty  of  fishing 
in  the  gulph  St.  Laurence,  on  condition  that  the  subjects  of 
France  do  not  exercise  the  said  fishery  but  at  the  distance  of 
three  leagues  from  all  the  coasts  belonging  to  Great  Britain,  as 
well  those  of  the  continent,  as  those  of  the  islands  situated  in  the 
said  gulph  of  St.  Laurence.  And  as  to  what  relates  to  the  fishery 
on  the  coasts  of  the  island  of  Cape  Breton  out  of  the  said  gulph, 


1763]  TREATY   OF   PARIS  III 

the  subjects  of  the  most  Christian  King  shall  not  be  permitted 
to  exercise  the  said  fishery  but  at  the  distance  of  fifteen  leagues 
from  the  coasts  of  the  island  of  Cape  Breton;  and  the  fishery 
on  the  coasts  of  Nova  Scotia  or  Acadia,  and  every  where 
else  out  of  the  said  gulph,  shall  remain  on  the  foot  of  former 
treaties. 

VI.  The  King  of  Great  Britain  cedes  the  islands  of  St.  Pierre 
and  Miquelon,  in  full  right,  to  his  most  Christian   Majesty,  to 
serve  as  a  shelter  to  the  French  fishermen:    and   his  said  most 
Christian    Majesty  engages   not   to   fortify   the   said   islands;    to 
erect  no  building  upon  them,  but  merely  for  the  convenience  of 
the  fishery ;    and  to  keep  upon  them  a  guard  of  fifty  men  only  for 
the  police. 

VII.  ...  it  is  agreed,  that,  for  the  future,  the  confines  between 
the  dominions  of  his  Britannic  Majesty,  and  those  of  his  most 
Christian  Majesty,  in  that  part  of  the  world,  shall  be  fixed  irrev 
ocably  by  a  line  drawn  along  the  middle  of  the  river  Mississippi, 
from  its  source  to  the  river  Iberville,  and  from  thence,  by  a  line 
drawn  along  the  middle  of  this  river,  and  the  lakes  Maurepas  and 
Pontchartrain,  to  the  sea;  and  for  this  purpose,  the  most  Christian 
King  cedes  in  full  right,  and  guaranties  to  his  Britannic  Majesty, 
the  river  and  port  of  the  Mobile,  and  every  thing  which  he  possesses, 
or  ought  to  possess,  on  the  left  side  of  the  river  Mississippi,  except 
the  town  of  New  Orleans,  and  the  island  on  which  it  is  situated, 
which  shall  remain  to  France;    provided  that  the  navigation  of 
the  river  Mississippi  shall  be  equally  free,  as  well  to  the  subjects 
of  Great  Britain  as  to  those  of  France,  in  its  whole  breadth  and 
length,  from  its  source  to  the  sea,  and  expresly  that  part  which 
is  between  the  said  island  of  New  Orleans  and  the  right  bank  of 
that  river,  as  well  as  the  passage  both  in  and  out  of  its  mouth. 
It  is  further  stipulated,  that  the  vessels  belonging  to  the  subjects 
of  either  nation  shall  not  be  stopped,  visited,  or  subjected  to  the 
payment  of   any  duty  whatsoever.     The  stipulations,  inserted  in 
the  IVth  article,  in  favour  of  the  inhabitants  of  Canada,  shall 
also  take  place  with  regard  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  countries 
ceded  by  this  article. 

VIII.  The  King  of  Great  Britain  shall  restore  to  France  the 
islands  of  Guadeloupe,  of  Marie  Galante,  of  Desirade,  of  Mar- 
tinico,  and  of  Belleisle;    and  the  fortresses  of  these  islands  shall 


112  TREATY   OF   PARIS  [February  IG 

be  restored  in  the  same  condition  they  were  in  when  they  were 
conquered  by  the  British  arms  .  .  . 

IX.  The  most  Christian  King  cedes  and  guaranties  to  his 
Britannic  Majesty,  in  full  right,  the  islands  of  Grenada,  and  of 
the  Grenadines,  with  the  same  stipulations  in  favour  of  the  in 
habitants  of  this  colony,  inserted  in  the  IVth  article  for 'those  of 
Canada :  and  the  partition  of  the  islands,  called  Neutral,  is  agreed 
and  fixed,  so  that  those  of  St.  Vincent,  Dominica,  and  Tobago, 
shall  remain  in  full  right  to  Great  Britain,  and  that  of  St.  Lucia 
shall  be  delivered  to  France.  .  .  . 

******** 
,  XIX.  The  King  of  Great  Britain  shall  restore  to  Spain  all  the 
territory,  which  he  has  conquered  in  the  island  of  Cuba,  with  the 
(fortress  of  the  Havana,  and  this  fortress,  as  well  as  all  the  other 
Jfortresses  of  the  said  island,  shall  be  restored  in  the  same  con- 
idition  they  were  in  when  conquered  by  his  Britannic  Majesty's 
arms  .  .  . 

XX.   In  consequence  of  the  restitution  stipulated  in  the  pre 
ceding  article,  his  Catholic  Majesty  cedes  and  guaranties,  in  full 
)  right,  to  his  Britannic  Majesty,  Florida,  with  Fort  St.  Augustin, 
(and  the  Bay  of  Pensacola,  as  well  as  all  that  Spain  possesses  on 
f  the  continent  of  North  America,  to  the  east,  or  to  the  south-east, 
(  of  the  river  Mississippi ;   and,  in  general,  every  thing  that  depends 
(  on  the  said  countries,  and    lands  .  .  .     His  Britannic  Majesty 
agrees,  on  his  side,  to  grant  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  countries, 
above  ceded,  the  liberty  of  the  Catholic  religion:   he  will  conse 
quently  give  the  most  express  and  the  most  effectual  orders,  that 
his  new  Roman  Catholic  subjects  may  profess  the  worship  of  their 
religion,  according  to  the  rites  of  the  Romish  church,  as  far  as 
the  laws  of  Great  Britain  permit:    [the  Spanish  inhabitants  to 
be  permitted  to  remove,  or  to  sell  their  estates,  under  conditions 
as   in   Art.  IV.]      It   is  moreover  stipulated,    that   his  Catholic 
Majesty  shall    have    power  to  cause  all   the  effects,  that   may 
belong  to  him,  to  be  brought  away,  whether  it  be  artillery  or 
other  things. 

******** 


1763]    ROYAL  PROCLAMATION  CONCERNING  AMERICA     n^ 

No.  31.     Royal  Proclamation  concerning 
America 

October  7,  1763 

THE  principal  objects  of  the  royal  proclamation  of  1763  were,  to  provide 
for  the  government  of  the  British  possessions  in  America  which  had  been 
acquired  by  the  treaty  of  Paris;  to  define  certain  interior  boundaries;  and  to 
regulate  trade  and  intercourse  with  the  Indians. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  the  Annual  Register  (1763),  208-213. 

WHEREAS  we  have  taken  into  our  royal  consideration  the  exten 
sive  and  valuable  acquisitions  in  America,  secured  to  our  crown 
by  the  late  definitive  treaty  of  peace  concluded  at  Paris  the  loth 
day  of  February  last;  ...  we  have  thought  fit  ...  hereby 
to  publish  and  declare  to  all  our  loving  subjects,  that  we  have, 
with  the  advice  of  our  said  privy  council,  granted  our  letters 
patent  under  our  great  seal  of  Great  Britain,  to  erect  within  the 
countries  and  islands,  ceded  and  confirmed  to  us  by  the  said' 
treaty,  four  distinct  and  separate  governments,  stiled  and  called 
by  the  names^  of  Quebec,  East  Florida,  West  Florida,  and  Gre 
nada,  and  limited  and  bounded  as  follows,  viz. 

First,  the  government  of  Quebec,  bounded  on  the  Labrador 
coast  by  the  river  St.  John,  and  from  thence  by  a  line  drawn 
from  the  head  of  that  river,  through  the  lake  St.  John,  to  the 
South  end  of  the  lake  Nipissim;  from  whence  the  said  line, 
crossing  the  river  St.  Lawrence  and  the  lake  Champlain  in  45 
degrees  of  North  latitude,  passes  along  the  High  Lands,  which 
divide  the  rivers  that  empty  themselves  into  the  said  river  St. 
Lawrence,  from  those  which  fall  into  the  sea;  and  also  along  the 
North  coast  of  the  Bayes  des  Chaleurs,  and  the  coast  of  the  Gulph 
of  St.  Lawrence  to  Cape  Rosieres,  and  from  thence  crossing  the 
mouth  of  the  river  St.  Lawrence  by  the  West  end  of  the  island  of 
Anticosti,  terminates  at  the  aforesaid  river  St.  John. 

Secondly,  The  government  of  East  Florida,  bounded  to  the 
Westward  by  the  Gulph  of  Mexico  and  the  Apalachicola  river; 
to  the  Northward,  by  a  line  drawn  from  that  part  of  the  said  river 
where  the  Catahoochee  and  Flint  rivers  meet,  to  the  source  of  St 


114   ROYAL  PROCLAMATION  CONCERNING  AMERICA  [Oct.  5 

Mary's  river,  and  by  the  course  of  the  said  river  to  the  Atlantic 
Ocean ;  and  to  the  East  and  South  by  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  the 
Gulph  of  Florida,  including  all  islands  within  six  leagues  of  the 
sea  coast. 

Thirdly,  The  government  of  West  Florida,  bounded  to  the 
Southward  by  the  Gulph  of  Mexico,  including  all  islands  within 
six  leagues  of  the  coast  from  the  river  Apalachicola  to  lake 
Pontchartrain ;  to  the  Westward  by  the  said  lake,  the  lake  Mau- 
repas,  and  the  river  Mississippi;  to  the  Northward,  by  ajine 
drawn  due  East  from  that  part  of  the  river  Mississippi  which  lies 
in  thirty-one  degrees  North  latitude,  to  the  river  Apalachicola, 
or  Catahoochee;  and  to  the  Eastward  by  the  said  river. 

Fourthly,  The  government  of  Grenada,  comprehending  the 
island  of  that  name,  together  with  the  Grenadines,  and  the 
islands  of  Dominico,  St.  Vincent,  and  Tobago. 

And  to  the  end  that  the  open  and  free  fishery  of  our  subjects 
may  be  extended  to,  and  carried  on  upon  the  coast  of  Labrador 
and  the  adjacent  islands,  we  have  thought  fit  ...  to  put  all  that 
coast,  from  the  river  St.  John's  to  Hudson's  Streights,  together 
with  the  islands  of  Anticosti  and  Madelane,  and  all  other  smaller 
islands  lying  upon  the  said  coast,  under  the  care  and  inspection 
of  our  governor  of  Newfoundland. 

We  have  also  .  .  .  thought  fit  to  annex  the  islands  of  St. 
John  and  Cape  Breton,  or  Isle  Royale,  with  the  lesser  islands 
adjacent  thereto,  to  our  government  of  Nova  Scotia. 

We  have  also  .  .  .  annexed  to  our  province  of  Georgia,  all  the 
lands  lying  between  the  rivers  Attamaha  and  St.  Mary's. 

And  ...  we  have  .  .  .  given  express  power  and  direction  to 
our  governors  of  our  said  colonies  respectively,  that  so  soon  as 
the  state  and  circumstances  of  the  said  colonies  will  admit  thereof, 
they  shall,  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  members  of  our 
council,  summon  and  call  general  assemblies  within  the  said 
governments  respectively,  in  such  manner  and  form  as  is  used 
and  directed  in  those  colonies  and  provinces  in  America,  which 
are  under  our  immediate  government;  and  we  have  also  given 
power  to  the  said  governors,  with  the  consent  of  our  said  coun 
cils,  and  the  representatives  of  the  people,  so  to  be  summoned  as 
aforesaid,  to  make,  constitute,  and  ordain  laws,  statutes,  and  ordi 
nances  for  the  public  peace,  welfare,  and  good  government  of  our 


1763]'     ROYAL  PROCLAMATION  CONCERNING  AMERICA     115 

said  colonies,  and  of  the  people  and  inhabitants  thereof,  as  near 
as  may  be,  agreeable  to  the  laws  of  England,  and  under  such 
regulations  and  restrictions  as  are  used  in  other  colonies;  and  in 
the  mean  time,  and  until  such  assemblies  can  be  called  as  afore 
said,  all  persons  inhabiting  in,  or  resorting  to,  our  said  colonies, 
may  confide  in  our  royal  protection  for  the  enjoyment  of  the 
benefit  of  the  laws  of  our  realm  of  England :  for  which  purpose , 
we  have  given  power  unrjer  our  great  seal  to  the  governors  of  our 
said  colonies  respectively,  to  erect  and  constitute,  with  the  advice 
of  our  said  councils  respectively,  courts  of  judicature  and  public 
justice  -within  our  said  colonies,  for  the  hearing  and  determining 
all  causes  as  well  criminal  as  civil,  according  to  law  and  equity, 
and  as  near  as  may  be,  agreeable  to  the  laws  of  England,  with 
liberty  to  all  persons  who  may  think  themselves  aggrieved  by  the 
sentence  of  such  courts,  in  all  civil  cases,  to  appeal,  under  the 
usual  limitations  and  restrictions,  to  us,  in  our  privy  council. 

[Governors  of  the  three  new  continental  colonies  may  grant  % 
land  therein.] 

And  ...  we  do  hereby  command  and  impower  our  governors 
of  our  said  three  new  colonies,  and  other  our  governors  of  our 
several  provinces  on  the  continent  of  North  America,  to  grant, 
without  fee  or  reward,  to  such  reduced  officers  as  have  served  in 
North  America  during  the  late  war,  and  are  actually  residing 
there,  and  shall  personally  apply  for  the  same,  the  following 
quantities  of  land,  subject,  at  the  expiration  of  ten  years,  to  the 
same  quit  rents  as  other  lands  are  subject  to  in  the  province 
within  which  they  are  granted,  as  also  subject  to  the  same  condi 
tions  of  cultivation  and  improvement,  viz. 

To  every  person  having  the  rank  of  a  field  officer,  5000  acres. 

To  every  captain,  3000  acres. 

To  every  subaltern  or  staff  officer,  2000  acres. 

To  every  non-commission  officer,  200  acres. 

To  every  private  man  50  acres. 

We  do  likewise  authorise  and  require  the  governors  and  com 
manders  in  chief  of  all  our  said  colonies  upon  the  continent  of 
North  America  to  grant  the  like  quantities  of  land,  and  upon  the 
same  conditions,  to  such  reduced  officers  of  our  navy  of  like 
rank,  as  served  on  board  our  ships  of  war  in  North  America  at 
the  times  of  the  reduction  of  Louisbourg  and  Quebec  in  the  late 


Il6   ROYAL  PROCLAMATION  CONCERNING  AMERICA  [Oct.  7 

war,  and  who  shall  personally  apply  to  our  respective  governors 
for  such  grants. 

And  whereas  it  is  just  and  reasonable,  and  essential  to  our 
interest,  and  the  security  of  our  colonies,  that  the  several  nations 
or  tribes  of  Indians,  with  whom  we  are  connected,  and  who  live 
under  our  protection,  should  not  be  molested  or  disturbed  in  the 
possession  of  such  parts  of  our  dominions  and  territories  as,  not 
having  been  ceded  to,  or  purchased  by  us,  are  reserved  to  them, 
or  any  of  them,  as  their  hunting  grounds;  we  do  ...  declare  it 
to  be  our  royal  will  and  pleasure,  that  no  governor,  or  commander 
in  chief,  in  any  of  our  colonies  of  Quebec,  East  Florida,  or  West 
Florida,  do  presume,  upon  any  pretence  whatever,  to  grant  war 
rants  of  survey,  or  pass  any  patents  for  lands  beyond  the  bounds 
of  their  respective  governments,  as  described  in  their  commissions; 
as  also  that  no  governor  or  commander  in  chief  of  our  other  colo 
nies  or  plantations  in  America,  do  presume  for  the  present,  and 
until  our  further  pleasure  be  known,  to  grant  warrant  of  survey, 
or  pass  patents  for  any  lands  beyond  the  heads  or  sources  of  any 
of  the  rivers  which  fall  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean  from  the  west  or 
north-west;  or  upon  any  lands  whatever,  which  not  having  been 
ceded  to,  or  purchased  by  us,  as  aforesaid,  are  reserved  to  the 
J  said  Indians,  or  any  of  them. 

And  we  do  further  declare  it  to  be  our  royal  will  and  pleasure, 

I  fox.  the  present,  as  aforesaid,  to  reserve  under  our  sovereignty, 

'  protection,  and  dominion,  for  the  use  of  the  said  Indians,  all 

the  land  and  territories  not  included  within  the  limits  of  our 

said  three  new  governments,  or  within  the  limits  of  the  territory 

(granted  to  the  Hudson's  Bay  company;   as  also  all  the  land  and 

)  territories  lying  to  the  westward  of  the  sources  of  the  rivers  which 

1  fall  into  the  sea  from  the  west  and  north-west  as  aforesaid  .... 

[Persons  who  have  inadvertently  settled  upon  such    reserved 

lands  to  remove.     No  sale  of  Indian  lands  to  be  allowed,  except 

to  the  Crown.     The  Indian  trade  to  be  free  to  English  subjects, 

under  licence  from  the  governor  or  commander  in  chief  of  some 

colony.     Fugitives  from  justice,  taking  refuge  in  this  reserved 

territory,  to  be  apprehended  and  returned.] 


1764]  SUGAR  ACT  117 

No.   32.     vSugar   Act 

April  5,   1764 

ALTHOUGH  the  Seven  Years'  war  had  left  Great  Britain  with  a  heavy 
debt,  the  expense  of  protecting  the  English  possessions  in  America  seemed 
likely  to  increase  rather  than  diminish.  The  direct  advantages  of  the 
expulsion  of  the  French  had  accrued  mainly  to  the  colonies,  and  it  seemed 
proper  to  the  ministry  that  a  revenue  should  be  raised  in  America  for  the 
support  of  the  military  establishment  there.  In  connection  with  the  plan  for 
a  colonial  army,  it  was  the  desire  to  provide  stronger  support  for  the  repre 
sentatives  of  the  crown,  and  to  put  an  end  to  the  widespread  violation  of  the 
acts  of  trade.  "February  23,  1763,  Charles  Townshend  became  first  lord 
of  trade,  with  the  administration  of  the  colonies,  and  he  inaugurated,  with 
the  support  of  the  ministry,  the  new  system  of  colonial  government.  It  was 
announced  by  authority  that  there  were  to  be  no  more  requisitions  from  the 
king  to  the  colonial  assemblies  for  supplies,  but  that  the  colonies  were  to  be 
taxed  by  act  of  Parliament.  Colonial  governors  and  judges  were  to  be  paid 
by  the  Crown ;  they  were  to  be  supported  by  a  standing  army  of  twenty  regi 
ments;  and  all  the  expenses  of  this  force  were  to  be  paid  by  parliamentary 
taxation"  (Johnston).  Grenville,  who  succeeded  Bute  in  April  as  prime 
minister,  was  committed  to  this  policy,  and  in  May  the  Lords  of  Trade  were 
called  upon  to  submit  a  plan  of  colonial  taxation.  The  duties  prescribed  by 
the  Molasses  Act  of  1733  [No.  28]  were  prohibitory,  and  the  statute  itself  had 
remained  inoperative.  To  provide  in  part  for  the  intended  revenue,  the  act 
of  April  5,  1764,  known  as  the  Sugar  Act,  was  now  passed,  imposing  duties 
upon  certain  colonial  imports  and  exports.  The  Molasses  Act  was  also  made 
perpetual,  but  with  a  reduction  by  one-half  of  the  duty  on  molasses  and  sugar. 

The  extracts  following  give  the  important  sections  of  the  act,  omitting 
technical  and  administrative  provisions. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Pickering's  Statutes  at  Large,  XXVI.,  33-52. 
The  act  is  cited  as  4  Geo.  III.,  c.  15.  On  the  act  see  especially  Beer's  Com 
mercial  Policy  of  England,  chap.  8,  and  references  there  cited. 

An  act  for  granting  certain  duties  in  the  British  colonies  and 
plantations  in  America;  for  continuing,  amending,  and  making 
perpetual  .  .  .  [the  Molasses  Act  of  1733]  .  .  .  ;  for  applying 
the  produce  of  such  duties,  and  of  the  duties  to  arise  by  virtue  of 
the  said  act,  towards  defraying  the  expences  of  defending,  pro 
tecting,  and  securing  the  said  colonies  and  plantations ;  for  ex 
plaining  .  .  .  [the  Navigation  Act  of  1672]  .  .  .  ;  and  for  alter 
ing  and  disallowing  several  drawbacks  on  exports  from  this  king 
dom,  and  more  effectually  preventing  the  clandestine  conveyance 
of  goods  to  and  from  the  said  colonies  and  plantations,  and  im- 


Il8  SUGAR   ACT  [April5 

proving  and  securing  the  trade  between  the  same  and  Great 

Britain. 

WHEREAS  it  is  expedient  that  new  provisions  and  regulations 
should  be  established  for  improving  the  revenue  of  this  Kingdom, 
and  for  extending  and  securing  the  navigation  and  commerce 
between  Great  Britain  and  your  Majesty's  dominions  in  America, 
which,  by  the  peace,  have  been  so  happily  enlarged:  and  whereas 
it  is  just  and  necessary,  that  a  revenue  be  raised,  in  your  Majesty's 
said  dominions  in  America,  for  defraying  the  expences  of  defending, 
protecting,  and  securing  the  same;  ...  be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That 
from  and  after  .  .  .  [September  29,  1764,]  .  .  .  there  shall  be 
raised,  levied,  collected,  and  paid,  unto  his  Majesty  .  .  .  ,  for 
and  upon  all  white  or  clayed  sugars  of  the  produce  or  manu 
facture  of  any  colony  or  plantation  in  America,  not  under  the 
dominion  of  his  Majesty  .  .  .  ;  for  and  upon  indico,  and  coffee 
of  foreign  produce  or  manufacture;  for  and  upon  all  wines 
(except  French  wine;)  for  and  upon  all  wrought  silks,  bengals, 
and  stuffs,  mixed  with  silk  or  herba,  of  the  manufacture  of  Persia, 
China,  or  East  India,  and  all  callico  painted,  dyed,  printed,  or 
stained  there;  and  for  and  upon  all  foreign  linen  cloth  called 
Cambrick  and  French  Lawns,  which  shall  be  imported  or  brought 
into  any  colony  or  plantation  in  America,  which  now  is,  or  here 
after  may  be,  under  the  dominion  of  his  Majesty  .  .  .  ,  the 
several  rates  and  duties  following;  that  is  to  say, 

For  every  hundred  weight  avoirdupois  of  such  foreign  white 
or  clayed  sugars,  one  pound  two  shillings,  over  and  above  all 
other  duties  imposed  by  any  former  act  of  parliament. 

For  every  pound  weight  avoirdupois  of  such  foreign  indico,  six 
pence. 

For  every  hundred  weight  avoirdupois  of  such  foreign  coffee, 
which  shall  be  imported  from  any  place  except  Great  Britain, 
two  pounds,  nineteen  shillings,  and  nine  pence. 

For  every  ton  of  wine  of  the  growth  of  the  Madeiras,  or  of 
any  other  island  or  place  from  whence  such  wine  may  be  lawfully 
imported,  and  which  shall  be  so  imported  from  such  islands  or 
places,  the  sum  of  seven  pounds. 

For  every  ton  of  Portugal,  Spanish,  or  any  other  wine  (except 
French  wine)  imported  from  Great  Britain,  the  sum  of  ten 
shillings. 


SUGAR  ACT  lig 

For  every  pound  weight  avoirdupois  of  wrought  silks,  bengals, 
and  stuffs,  mixed  with  silk  or  herba,  of  the  manufacture  of  Persia, 
China,  or  East  India,  imported  from  Great  Britain,  two  shillings. 

For  every  piece  of  callico  painted,  dyed,  printed,  or  stained, 
in  Persia,  China,  or  East  India,  imported  from  Great  Britain, 
two  shillings  and  six  pence. 

For  every  piece  of  foreign  linen  cloth,  called  Cambrick,  im 
ported  from  Great  Britain,  three  shillings. 

For  every  piece  of  French  lawn  imported  from  Great  Britain 
three  shillings.  .  .  . 

II.  And  it  is  hereby  further  enacted  .  .  .  That  from  and  after 
.  .  .  [September  29,  1764]  .  .  .  there  shall  also  be  raised,  levied, 
collected,  and  paid,  unto  his  Majesty  .  .  .  ,  for  and  upon  all 
coffee  and  pimento  of  the  growth  and  produce  of  any  British 
colony  or  plantation  in  America,  which  shall  be  there  laden  on 
board  any  British  ship  or  vessel,  to  be  carried  out  from  thence 
or  any  other  place  whatsoever,  except  Great  Britain,  the  several 
rates  and  duties  following;    that  is  to  say, 

III.  For  every  hundred   weight  avoirdupois  of  such  British 
coffee,  seven  shillings. 

For  every  pound  weight  avoirdupois  of  such  British  pimento, 
one  halfpenny.  .  .  . 

[Sections  V.  and  VI.  continue  the  Molasses  Act  in  force  until 
Sept.  30,  1764,  after  which  it  is  to  be  perpetual,  subject  to  the 
changes  in  this  present  act.] 

VI.  And  be  it  further  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  in  lieu  and  instead 
of  the  rate  and  duty  imposed  by  the  said  act  upon  melasses  and 
syrups,  there  shall,  from  and  after  .  .  .  [September  29,  1764] 
.  .  .  ,  be  raised,  levied,  collected,  and  paid,  unto  his  Majesty 
.  .  .  ,  for  and  upon  every  gallon  of  melasses  or  syrups,  being  the 
growth,  produce,  or  manufacture,  of  any  colony  or  plantation  in 
America,  not  under  the  dominion  of  his  Majesty  .  .  .  ,  which 
shall  be  imported  or  brought  into  any  colony  or  plantation  in 
America,  which  now  is,  or  hereafter  may  be,  under  the  dominion 
of  his  Majesty  .  .  .  ,  the  sum  of  three  pence. 

******** 

XI.  And  it  is  hereby  further  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  all  the  monies 
which,  from  and  after  .  .  .  [September  29,  1764]  .  .  .  ,  shall 
arise  by  the  several  rates  and  duties  herein  before  granted;  and 


120  SUGAR  ACT  [Aprils 

also  by  the  duties  which,  from  and  after  the  said  [date],  shall  be 
raised  upon  sugars  and  paneles,  by  virtue  of  ...  [the  Molasses 
Act]  .  .  . ,  (except  the  necessary  charges  of  raising,  collecting, 
levying,  recovering,  answering,  paying,  and  accounting  for  the 
same)  shall  be  paid  into  the  receipt  of  his  Majesty's  Exchequer, 
and  shall  be  entered  separate  and  apart  from  all  other  monies 
paid  or  payable  to  his  Majesty  .  .  .  :  and  shall  be  there  reserved 
to  be,  from  time  to  time,  disposed  of  by  parliament,  towards 
defraying  the  necessary  expences  of  defending,  protecting,  and 
securing,  the  British  colonies  and  plantations  in  America. 
##*##**  # 

XVIII.  And  be  it  further  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  from  and  after 
.  .  .  [September  29,  1764]  .  .  .  ,  no  rum  or  spirits  of  the  produce 
or  manufacture  of  any  of  the  colonies  or  plantations  in  America, 
not  in  the  possession  or  under  the  dominion  of  his  Majesty  .  .  .  , 
shall  be  imported  or  brought  into  any  of  the  colonies  or  planta 
tions  in  America  which  now  are,  or  hereafter  may  be,  in  the 
possession  or  under  the  dominion  of  his  Majesty  .  .  .  ,  upon  for 
feiture  of  all  such  rum  or  spirits,  together  with  the  ship  or  vessel 
in  which  the  same  shall  be  imported,  with  the  tackle,  apparel,  and 
furniture  thereof.  .  .  . 

XIX.  And    it    is   hereby  further    enacted  .  .  .  ,  That    from 
and  after  .  .  .  [September  29,  1764]  .  .  .  ,  nothing  in  ...  [the 
Molasses  Act,]  ...  or  any  other  act  of  parliament,   shall  ex 
tend,  or  be  construed  to  extend,  to  give  liberty  to  any  person 
or  persons  whatsoever  to  import  into  the  kingdom  of  Ireland, 
any  sort  of  sugars,  but  such  only  as  shall  be  fairly  and  bona  fide 
loaden  and  shipped  in  Great  Britain,  and  carried  directly  from 
thence  in  ships  navigated  according  to  law. 

*  ******  * 

XXVII.  And  it  is  hereby  further  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  from 
and  after  .  .  .  [September  29,  1764]  .  .  .  ,  all  coffee,  pimento, 
cocoa  nuts,  whale  fins,  raw  silk,  hides,  and  skins,  pot  and  pearl 
ashes,  of  the  growth,  production,  or  manufacture,  of  any  British 
colony  or  plantation  in  America,  shall  be  imported  directly  from 
thence  into  this  kingdom,  or  some  other  British  colony  or  plan 
tation  .  .  . 

XXVIII.  And  it  is  hereby  further  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  from 
and  after  .  .  .  [September  29,  1764]  .  .  .  ,  no  iron,  nor  any  sort 


1764]  SUGAR  ACT  12 1 

of  wood,  commonly  called  Lumber,  as  specified  in  an  act  passed  in 
the  eighth  year  of  the  reign  of  King  George  the  First,  intituled, 
An  act  for  giving  further  encouragement  for  the  importation  oj 
naval  stores,  and  for  other  purposes  therein  mentioned,  of  the 
growth,  production,  or  manufacture,  of  any  British  colony  or 
plantation  in  America,  shall  be  there  loaden  on  board  any  ship 
or  vessel  to  be  carried  from  thence,  until  sufficient  bond  shall  be 
given,  with  one  surety  besides  the  master  of  the  vessel,  to  the 
collector  or  other  principal  officer  of  the  customs  at  the  loading 
port,  in  a  penalty  of  double  the  value  of  the  goods,  with  condi 
tion,  that  the  said  goods  shall  not  be  landed  in  any  part  of  Eu 
rope  except  Great  Britain.  .  .  . 

XXIX.  And,  for  the  better  preventing  frauds  in  the  importa 
tion  or  exportation  of  goods  that  are  liable  to  the  payment  of 
duties,  or  are  prohibited,  in  the  British  colonies  or  plantations 
in  America,  it  is  further  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  from  and  after  .  .  . 
[September  29,   1764]  ...  7  no  goods,  wares,  or  merchandizes, 
of  any  kind  whatsoever,  shall  be  shipped  or  laden  on  board  any 
ship  or  vessel  in  any  of  the  British  colonies  or  plantations  in 
America,  to  be  carried  from  thence  to  any  other  British  colony 
or  plantation,  without  a  sufferance  or  warrant  first  had  and  ob 
tained  from  the  collector  or  other  proper  officer  of  the  customs 
at  the  port  or  place  where  such  goods  shall  be  intended  to  be  put 
on  Board.  ... 

XXX.  And  whereas  British  vessels  arriving  from  foreign  parts 
at  several  of  the  out  ports  of  this  kingdom,  fully  or  in  part  laden 
abroad  with  goods  that  are  pretended  to  be  destined  to  some 
foreign  plantation,  do  frequently  take  on  board  some  small  par 
cels  of  goods  in  this  kingdom  which  are  entered  outwards  for 
some  British  colony  or  plantation,  and  a  cocket  and  clearance 
thereupon  granted  for  such  goods,   under  cover  of  which   the 
whole  cargoes  of  such  vessels  are  clandestinely  landed  in   the 
British  American  dominions,  contrary  to  several  acts  of  parlia 
ment   now   in   force,   to   the   great  prejudice   of   the   trade   and 
revenue   of   this   kingdom;    for  remedy  whereof,   be   it  further 
enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  from  and  after  .  .  .  [May  i,  1764,]  ...  no 
ship  or  vessel  shall,  upon  any  pretence  whatsoever,  be  cleared 
outwards  from  any  port  of  this  kingdom,  for  any  land,  island, 
plantation,  colony,  territory,  or  place  to  his  Majesty  belonging,  or 


122  STAMP   ACT  [March  22 

which  shall  hereafter  belong  unto  or  be  in  the  possession  or  undei 
the  dominion  of  his  Majesty  .  .  .  ,  in  America,  unless  the  whole 
and  entire  cargo  of  such  ship  or  vessel  shall  be  bonafide,  and  with 
out  fraud,  laden  and  shipped  in  this  kingdom.  .  .  . 

XXXI.  Provided  always,  That  this  act  shall  not  extend,  nor 
be  construed  to  extend,  to  forfeit,  for  want  of  such  cocket  or 
clearance,  any  salt  laden  in  Europe  for  the  fisheries  in  New 
England,  Newfoundland,  Pensylvania,  New  York,  and  Nova 
Scotia,  or  any  other  place  to  which  salt  is  or  shall  be  allowed 
by  law  to  be  carried ;  wines  laden  in  the  Madeiras,  of  the  growth 
thereof;  and  wines  of  the  growth  of  the  Western  Islands,  or 
Azores,  and  laden  there;  nor  any  horses,  victuals,  or  linen  cloth, 
of  and  from  Ireland,  which  may  be  laden  on  board  such  ships 
or  vessels. 

******** 


No.  33.     Stamp  Act 

March  22,  1765 

A  STAMP  act  formed  part  of  the  plan  of  colonial  taxation  outlined  by 
Townshend  in  1763,  and  adopted  by  Grenville  when  the  latter  became  prime 
minister  (see  note  to  No.  32).  In  September,  1763,  the  commissioners  of 
stamp  duties  were  requested  to  draft  provisions  for  the  extension  of  those 
duties  to  America.  In  March,  1764,  shortly  before  the  passage  of  the  Sugar 
Act,  Grenville  announced  his  intention  of  introducing,  at  the  next  session,  a 
stamp  bill;  and  the  plan  received  the  approval  of  Parliament.  In  the  mean 
time,  opportunity  was  given  the  colonial  agents  to  communicate  with  their 
respective  governments,  in  order  that  the  colonies,  in  case  the  stamp  tax  were 
deemed  objectionable,  might  agree  upon  some  other  method  of  raising  the 
desired  revenue.  The  prospect  of  parliamentary  taxation  was  viewed  with 
alarm  in  America,  where  a  stricter  enforcement  of  the  acts  of  trade  was  al 
ready  thought  to  threaten  disaster  to  commerce.  When,  however,  the  subject 
was  again  brought  before  Parliament  by  Grenville,  in  February,  1765,  the 
colonial  agents,  although  remonstrating  against  the  proposed  measure,  were 
unable  to  recommend  any  substitute ;  while  petitions  from  the  colonial  assem 
blies,  and  from  London  merchants  interested  in  the  American  trade,  were 
refused  consideration,  under  a  rule  of  the  House  of  Commons  forbidding  the 
reception  of  petitions  on  money  bills.  There  was  little  opposition  in  Parlia 
ment,  and  the  bill  passed  the  Commons  by  a  vote  of  205  to  49,  and  the  Lords 
without  a  division.  George  III.  was  at  the  time  insane,  and  the  act  received 
the  royal  assent,  March  22,  by  commission. 


1765]  STAMP  ACT  123 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Pickering's  Statutes  at  Large,  XXVI.,  179-204. 
The  act  is  cited  as  5  Geo.  III.,  c.  12.  The  proceedings  in  Parliament  may 
be  followed  in  the  Parliamentary  History,  XV.,  XVI.,  and  the  Annual  Reg 
ister  (1765).  The  fullest  account  of  the  debates  is  in  Bancroft's  United  States 
(ed.  1852),  V.  Bradford's  Massachusetts  State  Papers,  33-92,  gives  the  ad 
dresses  and  messages  of  Governor  Bernard,  and  the  answers  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  of  that  colony,  in  relation  to  the  act  and  its  repeal.  The 
best-known  contemporary  expression  of  American  opinion,  called  out  by  the 
Sugar  Act  and  the  proposal  of  a  stamp  act,  is  Otis's  Rights  of  the  British 
Colonies ;  for  a  more  moderate  statement,  see  Stephen  Hopkins's  Rights  of 
the  Colonies  Examined  (in  R.  I.  Col.  Records,  VI.). 

An  act  for  granting  and  applying  certain  stamp  duties,  and  other 
duties,  in  the  British  colonies  and  plantations  in  America, 
towards  further  defraying  the  expences  of  defending,  protecting, 
and  securing  the  same;  and  for  amending  such  parts  of  the 
several  acts  of  parliament  relating  to  the  trade  and  revenues  of 
the  said  colonies  and  plantations,  as  direct  the  manner  of  deter 
mining  and  recovering  the  penalties  and  forfeitures  therein 
mentioned. 

WHEREAS  by  an  act  made  in  the  last  session  of  parliament, 
several  duties  were  granted,  continued,  and  appropriated,  towards 
defraying  the  expences  of  defending,  protecting,  and  securing,  the 
British  colonies  and  plantations  in  America:  and  whereas  it  is 
just  and  necessary,  that  provision  be  made  for  raising  a  further 
revenue  within  your  Majesty's  dominions  in  America,  towards 
defraying  the  said  expences :  ...  be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  from 
and  after  .  .  .  [November  i,  1765,]  .  .  .  there  shall  be  raised, 
levied,  collected,  and  paid  unto  his  Majesty,  his  heirs,  and  succes 
sors,  throughout  the  colonies  and  plantations  in  America  which 
now  are,  or  hereafter  may  be,  under  the  dominion  of  his  Majesty, 
his  heirs  and  successors, 

For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parchment,  or  sheet  or 
piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall  be  ingrossed,  written  or  printed, 
any  declaration,  plea,  replication,  rejoinder,  demurrer,  or  other 
pleading,  or  any  copy  thereof,  in  any  court  of  law  within  the 
British  colonies  and  plantations  in  America,  a  stamp  duty  of 
three  pence. 

[Then  follow  specifications  of  numerous  kinds  of  legal  docu 
ments,  with  the  several  rates  of  duty  thereon.] 


124  STAMP   ACT  [March  21 

For  every  skin  ...  on  which  shall  be  ingrossed  .  .  .  any 
note  or  bill  of  lading,  which  shall  be  signed  for  any  kind  of 
goods,  wares,  or  merchandize,  to  be  exported  from,  or  any  cocket 
or  clearance  granted  within  the  said  colonies  and  plantations,  a 
stamp  duty  of  four  pence. 

For  every  skin  ...  on  which  shall  be  ingrossed  .  .  .  letters  of 
mart,  or  commission  for  private  ships  of  war  .  .  .  ,  a  stamp  duty 
of  twenty  shillings. 

For  every  skin  ...  on  which  shall  be  ingrossed  .  .  .  any 
grant,  appointment,  or  admission  of  or  to  any  publick  beneficial 
office  or  employment,  for  the  space  of  one  year,  or  any  lesser  time, 
of  or  above  the  value  of  twenty  pounds  per  annum  sterling  money, 
in  salary,  fees,  and  perquisites  .  .  .  ,  (except  commissions  and 
appointments  of  officers  of  the  army,  navy,  ordnance,  or  militia, 
of  judges,  and  of  justices  of  the  peace)  a  stamp  duty  of  ten  shillings. 

For  every  skin  ...  on  which  any  grant  of  any  liberty,  privilege, 
or  franchise,  under  the  seal  of  any  of  the  said  colonies  or  planta 
tions,  or  under  the  seal  or  sign  manual  of  any  governor,  proprietor, 
or  publick  officer  alone,  or  in  conjunction  with  any  other  person 
or  persons,  or  with  any  council,  or  any  council  and  assembly,  or 
any  exemplification  of  the  same,  shall  be  ingrossed  .  .  .  ,  a  stamp 
duty  of  six  pounds. 

For  every  skin  ...  on  which  shall  be  ingrossed  .  .  .  any 
licence  for  retailing  of  spirituous  liquors,  to  be  granted  to  any 
person  who  shall  take  out  the  same  .  .  .  ,  a  stamp  duty  of  twenty 
shillings. 

[Specifications  of  duties  on  other  forms  of  liquor  licenses  follow.] 

For  every  skin  ...  on  which  shall  be  ingrossed  .  .  .  any 
probate  of  a  will,  letters  of  administration,  or  of  guardianship 
for  any  estate  above  the  value  of  twenty  pounds  sterling  money; 
within  the  British  colonies  and  plantations  upon  the  continent 
of  America,  the  islands  belonging  thereto,  and  the  Bermuda  and 
Bahama  islands,  a  stamp  duty  of  five  shillings. 

For  every  skin  ...  on  which  shall  be  ingrossed  .  .  .  any  such 
probate,  letters  of  administration  or  of  guardianship,  within  all 
other  parts  of  the  British  dominions  in  America,  a  stamp  duty 
of  ten  shillings. 

For  every  skin  ...  on  which  shall  be  ingrossed  .  .  .  any  bond 
for  securing  the  payment  of  any  sum  of  money,  not  exceeding  the 


1765]  STAMP  ACT  125 

sum  of  ten  pounds  sterling  money,  within  the  British  colonies 
and  plantations  upon  the  continent  of  America,  the  islands  be 
longing  thereto,  and  the  Bermuda  and  Bahama  islands,  a  stamp 
duty  of  six  pence. 

[Bonds  for  sums  above  £10  and  not  exceeding  £20,  one  shilling; 
above  £20  and  not  exceeding  £40,  one  shilling  and  sixpence.] 

For  every  skin  ...  on  which  shall  be  ingrossed  .  .  .  any  ordef 
or  warrant  for  surveying  or  setting  out  any  quantity  of  land,  not 
exceeding  one  hundred  acres,  issued  by  any  governor,  proprietor, 
or  any  publick  officer  alone,  or  in  conjunction  with  any  other 
person  or  persons,  or  with  any  council,  or  any  council  and  assem 
bly,  within  the  British  colonies  and  plantations  in  America,  a 
stamp  duty  of  six  pence.  [Further  provision  for  larger  grants.] 

For  every  skin  ...  on  which  shall  be  ingrossed  .  .  .  any  origi 
nal  grant,  or  any  deed,  mesne  conveyance,  or  other  instrument 
whatsoever,  by  which  any  quantity  of  land  not  exceeding  one 
hundred  acres  shall  be  granted,  conveyed,  or  assigned,  within  the 
British  colonies  and  plantations  upon  the  continent  of  America, 
the  islands  belonging  thereto,  and  the  Bermuda  and  Bahama 
islands  (except  leases  for  any  term  not  exceeding  the  term  of 
twenty  one  years)  a  stamp  duty  of  one  shilling  and  six  pence. 
[Further  provision  for  larger  grants.] 

For  every  skin  ...  on  which  shall  be  ingrossed  .  .  .  any  such 
original  grant  ...  by  which  any  quantity  of  land  not  exceeding 
one  hundred  acres  shall  be  granted  .  .  .  within  all  other  parts 
of  the  British  dominions  in  America,  a  stamp  duty  of  three 
shillings.  [Further  provision  for  larger  grants.] 

For  every  skin  ...  on  which  shall  be  ingrossed  .  .  .  any  grant, 
appointment,  or  admission,  of  or  to  any  publick  beneficial  office 
or  employment,  not  herein  before  charged,  above  the  value  of 
twenty  pounds  per  annum  sterling  money  in  salary,  fees,  and  per 
quisites,  or  any  exemplification  of  the  same,  within  the  British 
colonies  and  plantations  upon  the  continent  of  America,  the 
islands  belonging  thereto,  and  the  Bermuda  and  Bahama  islands 
(except  commissions  of  officers  of  the  army,  navy,  ordnance,  or 
militia,  and  of  justices  of  the  peace)  a  stamp  duty  of  four  pounds. 

For  every  skin  ...  on  which  shall  be  ingrossed  .  .  .  any  such 
grant  .  .  .  within  all  other  parts  of  the  British  dominions  in 
America.,  a  stamp  duty  of  six  pounds. 


126  STAMP   ACT  [March  21 

For  every  skin  ...  on  which  shall  be  ingrossed  .  .  .  any  inden 
ture,  lease,  conveyance,  contract,  stipulation,  bill  of  sale,  charter 
party,  protest,  articles  of  apprenticeship,  or  covenant  (except  for 
the  hire  of  servants  not  apprentices,  and  also  except  such  other 
matters  as  are  herein  before  charged)  within  the  British  colonies 
and  plantations  in  America,  a  stamp  duty  of  two  shillings  and 
six  pence. 

For  every  skin  ...  on  which  any  warrant  or  order  for  auditing 
any  publick  accounts,  beneficial  warrant,  order,  grant,  or  certifi 
cate,  under  any  publick  seal,  or  under  the  seal  or  sign  manual  of 
any  governor,  proprietor,  or  publick  officer  alone,  or  in  conjunc 
tion  with  any  other  person  or  persons,  or  with  any  council,  or  any 
council  and  assembly,  not  herein  before  charged,  or  any  passport 
or  let-pass,  surrender  of  office,  or  policy  of  assurance,  shall  be 
ingrossed  .  .  .  (except  warrants  or  orders  for  the  service  of  the 
navy,  army,  ordnance,  or  militia,  and  grants  of  offices  under 
twenty  pounds  per  annum  in  salary,  fees,  and  perquisites)  a  stamp 
duty  of  five  shillings. 

For  every  skin  ...  on  which  shall  be  ingrossed  .  .  .  any 
notarial  act,  bond,  deed,  letter  of  attorney,  procuration,  mort 
gage,  release,  or  other  obligatory  instrument,  not  herein  before 
charged  .  .  .  ,  a  stamp  duty  of  two  shillings  and  three  pence. 

For  every  skin  ...  on  which  shall  be  ingrossed  .  .  .  any 
register,  entry,  or  inrollment  of  any  grant,  deed,  or  other  instru 
ment  whatsoever  herein  before  charged  .  .  .  ,  a  stamp  duty  of 
three  pence. 

For  every  skin  ...  on  which  shall  be  ingrossed  .  .  .  any 
register,  .  .  .  not  herein  before  charged  .  .  .  ,  a  stamp  duty  of 
two  shillings. 

And  for  and  upon  every  pack  of  playing  cards,  and  all  dice, 
which  shall  be  sold  or  used  .  .  .  ,  the  several  stamp  duties  fol 
lowing  (that  is  to  say) 

For  every  pack  of  such  cards,  the  sum  of  one  shilling. 

And  for  every  pair  of  such  dice,  the  sum  of  ten  shillings. 

And  for  and  upon  every  paper,  commonly  called  a  pamphlet, 
and  upon  every  news  paper  .  .  .  and  for  and  upon  such  advertise 
ments  as  are  herein  after  mentioned,  the  respective  duties  follow 
ing  (that  is  to  say) 

For  every  such  pamphlet  and  paper  contained  in  half  a  sheet, 


1765]  STAMP   ACT  127 

or  any  lesser  piece  of  paper  .  .  .  ,  a  stamp  duty  of  one  hali- 
penny,  for  every  printed  copy  thereof. 

For  every  such  pamphlet  and  paper  (being  larger  than  half  a 
sheet,  and  not  exceeding  one  whole  sheet)  .  .  .  ,  a  stamp  duty  of 
one  penny,  for  every  printed  copy  thereof. 

For  every  pamphlet  and  paper  being  larger  than  one  whole 
sheet,  and  not  exceeding  six  sheets  in  octavo,  or  in  a  lesser  page, 
or  not  exceeding  twelve  sheets  in  quarto,  or  twenty  sheets  in 
folio  .  .  .  ,  a  duty  after  the  rate  of  one  shilling  for  every  sheet 
of  any  kind  of  paper  which  shall  be  contained  in  one  printed  copy 
thereof. 

For  every  advertisement  to  be  contained  in  any  gazette,  news 
paper,  or  other  paper,  or  any  pamphlet  .  .  .  ,  a  duty  of  two 
shillings. 

For  every  almanack  or  calendar,  for  any  one  particular  year,  or 
for  any  time  less  than  a  year,  which  shall  be  written  or  printed 
on  one  side  only  of  any  one  sheet,  skin,  or  piece  of  paper  parch 
ment,  or  vellum  .  .  .  ,  a  stamp  duty  of  two  pence. 

For  every  other  almanack  or  calendar  for  any  one  particular 
year  .  .  .  ,  a  stamp  duty  of  four  pence. 

And  for  every  almanack  or  calendar  written  or  printed  .  .  .  , 
to  serve  for  several  years,  duties  to  the  same  amount  respectively 
shall  be  paid  for  every  such  year. 

For  every  skin  ...  on  which  any  instrument,  proceeding,  or 
other  matter  or  thing  aforesaid,  shall  be  ingrossed  .  .  .  ,  in  any 
other  than  the  English  language,  a  stamp  duty  of  double  the 
amount  of  the  respective  duties  before  charged  thereon. 

And  there  shall  be  also  paid  ...  a  duty  of  six  pence  for  every 
twenty  shillings,  in  any  sum  not  exceeding  fifty  pounds  sterling 
money,  which  shall  be  given,  paid,  contracted,  or  agreed  for,  with 
or  in  relation  to  any  clerk  or  apprentice,  which  shall  be  put  or 
placed  to  or  with  any  master  or  mistress  to  learn  any  profession, 
trade,  or  employment. 

II.  And  also  a  duty  of  one  shilling  for  every  twenty  shillings, 
in  any  sum  exceeding  fifty  pounds,  which  shall  be  given,  paid, 
contracted,  or  agreed,  for,  with,  or  in  relation  to  any  such  clerk 
or  apprentice. 

******** 

V.    And  be  it  further  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  all  books  and  pam- 


128  STAMP  ACT  [March  22 

phlets  serving  chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  an  almanack,  by  what 
soever  name  or  names  intituled  or  described,  are  and  shall  be 
charged  with  the  duty  imposed  by  this  act  on  almanacks,  but  not 
with  any  of  the  duties  charged  by  this  act  on  pamphlets,  or  other 
printed  papers  .  .  . 

VI.  Provided  always,  that  this  act  shall  not  extend  to  charge 
any  bills  of  exchange,  accompts,  bills  of  parcels,  bills  of  fees, 
or  any  bills  or  notes  not  sealed  for  payment  of  money  at  sight, 
or  upon  demand,  or  at  the  end  of  certain  days  of  payment. 


X.  Provided  always,  That  this  act  shall  not  extend  to  charge 
any  proclamation,  forms  of  prayer  and  thanksgiving,  or  any 
printed  votes  of  any  house  of  assembly  in  any  of  the  said  colo 
nies  and  plantations,  with  any  of  the  said  duties  on  pamphlets 
or  news  papers;  or  to  charge  any  books  commonly  used  in  any 
of  the  schools  within  the  said  colonies  and  plantations,  or  any 
books  containing  only  matters  of  devotion  or  piety;  or  to  charge 
any  single  advertisement  printed  by  itself,  or  the  daily  accounts 
or  bills  of  goods  imported  and  exported  .  .  . 


XII.  And  be  it  further  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  the  said  several 
duties  shall  be  under  the  management  of  the  commissioners,  for 
the  time  being,  of  the  duties  charged  on  stamped  vellum,  parch 
ment,  and  paper,  in  Great  Britain:  and  the  said  commissioners 
are  hereby  impowered  and  required  to  employ  such  officers  under 
them,  for  that  purpose,  as  they  shall  think  proper  .  .  . 


XV.  And  be  it  further  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  if  any  person  or 
persons  shall  sign,  ingross,  write,  print,  or  sell,  or  expose  to  sale, 
or  cause  to  be  signed,  ingrossed,  written,  printed,  or  sold,  or 
exposed  to  sale,  in  any  of  the  said  colonies  or  plantations,  or  in 
any  other  part  of  his  Majesty's  dominions,  any  matter  or  thing, 
for  which  the  vellum  ...  is  hereby  charged  to  pay  any  duty, 
before  the  same  shall  be  marked  or  stamped  with  the  marks  or 
stamps  to  be  provided  as  aforesaid,  or  upon  which  there  shall 
not  be  some  stamp  or  mark  resembling  the  same;  or  shall  sign, 


STAMP  ACT  129 

ingross,  ...  or  expose  to  sale  .  .  .  ,  any  matter  or  thing  upon, 
any  vellum  .  .  .  that  shall  be  marked  or  stamped  for  any  lower 
duty  than  the  duty  by  this  act  made  payable  in  respect  thereof; 
every  such  person  so  offending  shall,  for  every  such  offence,  for 
feit  the  sum  of  ten  pounds. 

XVI.  And  be  it  further  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  no  matter  or 
thing  whatsoever,  by  this  act  charged  with  the  payment  of  a  duty, 
shall  be  pleaded  or  given  in  evidence,  or  admitted  in  any  court 
writhin  the  said  colonies  and  plantations,  to  be  good,  useful,  or 
available  in  law  or  equity,  unless  the  same  shall  be  marked  or 
stamped,  in  pursuance  of  this  act,  with  the  respective  duty  hereby 
charged  thereon,  or  with  an  higher  duty. 

*  *  *  *  *  *  * .  * 

XXI.  And  be  it  further  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  if  any  register, 
puklick  officer,  clerk,  or  other  person  in  any  court,  registry,  or 
office  within  any  of  the  said  colonies  or  plantations,  shall,  at  any 
time  after  .  .  .  [November  i,  1765,]  ...  enter,  register,  or 
inroll,  any  matter  or  thing  hereby  charged  with  a  stamp  duty, 
unless  the  same  shall  appear  to  be  duly  stamped;  in  every  such 
case  such  register,  publick  officer,  clerk,  or  other  person,  shall, 
for  every  such  offence,  forfeit  the  sum  of  twenty  pounds. 

******** 

XXVII.  And  it  is  hereby  further  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  no  person 
whatsoever  shall  sell  or  expose  to  sale  any  such  pamphlet,  or  any 
news  paper,  without  the  true  respective  name  or  names,  and  place  or 
places  of  abode,  of  some  known  person  or  persons  by  or  for  whom 
the  same  was  really  and  truly  printed  or  published,  shall  be  written 
or  printed  thereon ;  upon  pain  that  every  person  offending  therein 
shall,  for  every  such  offence,  forfeit  the  sum  of  twenty  pounds. 
******** 

XXXII.  And  it  is  hereby  further  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  from  and 
after  .  .  .  [November  i,  1765,]  .  .  .  in  case  any  person  or  per 
sons,  within  any  of  the  said  colonies  .  .  .  ,  shall  sell,  hawk, 
carry  about,  utter,  or  expose  to  sale,  any  almanack,  or  calendar, 
or  any  news  paper,  or  any  book,  pamphlet,  or  paper,  deemed  or 
construed  to  be,  or  serving  the  purpose  of,  an  almanack  or  news 
paper,  within  the  intention  and  meaning  of  this  act,  not  being 
K 


130  STAMP   ACT  [March  21 

stamped  or  marked  as  by  this  act  is  directed;   every  such  person, 
shall  for  every  such  offence,  forfeit  the  sum  of  forty  shillings. 
•*#-*#--*#-K# 

LIV.  And  be  it  further  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  all  the  monies 
which  shall  arise  by  the  several  rates  and  duties  hereby  granted 
(except  the  necessary  charges  of  raising,  collecting,  recovering, 
answering,  paying,  and  accounting  for  the  same  and  the  necessary 
charges  from  time  to  time  incurred  in  relation  to  this  act,  and 
the  execution  thereof)  shall  be  paid  into  the  receipt  of  his  Maj 
esty's  exchequer,  and  shall  be  entered  separate  and  apart  from 
all  other  monies,  and  shall  be  there  reserved  to  be  from  time  to 
time  disposed  of  by  parliament,  towards  further  defraying  the 
necessary  expences  of  defending,  protecting,  and  securing,  the 
said  colonies  and  plantations. 

******** 

LVII.  [Forfeitures  and  penalties  incurred  after  September  29, 
1765,  for  offences  against  the  Sugar  Act  (4  Geo.  III.,  c.  15,)], -and 
for  offences  committed  against  any  other  act  or  acts  of  Parliament 
relating  to  the  trade  or  revenues  of  the  said  colonies  or  planta 
tions;  shall  and  may  be  prosecuted,  sued  for,  and  recovered,  in 
any  court  of  record,  or  in  any  court  of  admiralty,  in  the  respec 
tive  colony  or  plantation  where  the  offence  shall  be  committed, 
or  in  any  court  of  vice  admiralty  appointed  or  to  be  appointed, 
and  which  shall  have  jurisdiction  within  such  colony,  plantation, 
or  place,  (which  courts  of  admiralty  or  vice  admiralty  are  hereby 
respectively  authorized  and  required  to  proceed,  hear,  and  deter 
mine  the  same)  at  the  election  of  the  informer  or  prosecutor. 

LVIII.  [Penalties  and  forfeitures  incurred  for  offences  against 
this  act  to  be  sued  for  and  recovered  as  in  Sec.  LVII.];  and  that 
from  and  after  .  .  .  [September  29,  1765]  .  .  .  ,  in  all  cases, 
where  any  suit  or  prosecution  shall  be  commenced  and  determined 
for  any  penalty  or  forfeiture  inflicted  by  this  act,  or  by  the  said  act 
made  in  the  fourth  year  of  his  present  Majesty's  reign,  or  by  any 
other  act  of  parliament  relating  to  the  trade  or  revenues  of  the 
said  colonies  or  plantations,  in  any  court  of  admirality  in  the 
respective  colony  or  plantation  where  the  offence  shall  be  com 
mitted,  either  party,  who  shall  think  himself  aggrieved  by  such 
determination,  may  appeal  from  such  determination  to  any  court 
of  vice  admiralty  appointed  or  to  be  appointed,  and  which  shall 


1765]  QUARTERING   ACT  131 

have  jurisdiction  within  such  colony,  plantation,  or  place  .  .  .  ; 
and  the  forfeitures  and  penalties  hereby  inflicted,  which  shall  be 
incurred  in  any  other  part  of  his  Majesty's  dominions,  shall  and 
may  be  prosecuted,  sued  for,  and  recovered,  with  full  costs  of  suit, 
in  any  court  of  record  within  the  kingdom,  territory,  or  place, 
where  the  offence  shall  be  committed,  in  such  and  the  same  man 
ner  as  any  debt  or  damage,  to  the  amount  of  such  forfeiture  or 
penalty,  can  or  may  be  sued  for  and  recovered. 

******** 


No.  34.     Quartering  Act 

April,  1765 

FURTHER  to  carry  into  effect  the  plans  of  the  ministry  in  reference  to 
America,  the  annual  Mutiny  Act  of  1765  authorized  the  dispatch  to  the 
colonies  of  such  troops  as  might  be  deemed  necessary.  As  it  was  anticipated 
that  the  number  so  sent  would  be  greater  than  formerly,  the  Quartering  Act 
was  passed  to  provide  for  their  accommodation.  The  provisions  of  the 
act  were  re-enacted  in  1775  (15  Geo.  III.,  c.  15),  and  made  applicable  to  the 
naval  forces  while  on  shore. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Pickering's  Statutes  at  Large,  XXVI.,  305-318. 
The  act  is  cited  as  5  Geo.  III.,  c.  33. 

An  act  to  amend  and  render  more  effectual,  in  his  Majesty 's  domin 
ions  in  America,  an  act  passed  in  this  present  session  of  parlia 
ment,  intituled,  An  act  for  punishing  mutiny  and  desertion,  and 
for  the  better  payment  of  the  army  and  their  quarters. 
WHEREAS  ...  [by   the   Mutiny   Act  of    1765]  .  .  .  several 
regulations  are  made  and  enacted  for  the  better  government  of  the 
army,    and   their  observing  strict   discipline,    and  for   providing 
quarters  for  the  army,  and  carriages  on  marches  and  other  neces 
sary  occasions,  and  inflicting  penalties  on  offenders  against  the  same 
act,  and  for  many  other  good  purposes  therein  mentioned;   but  the 
same  may  not  be  sufficient  for  the  forces  that  may  be  employed  in 
his  Majesty's  dominions  in  America :  and  whereas,  during  the  con 
tinuance  of  the  said  act,  there  may  be  occasion  for  marching  and 
quartering  of  regiments  and  companies  of  his  Majesty's  forces  in 
several  parts  of  his  Majesty's  dominions  in  America :   and  whereas 
the  publick  houses  and  barracks,  in  his  Majesty's  dominions  in 


132  QUARTERING   ACT  [April 

America,  may  not  be  sufficient  to  supply  quarters  for  such  forces : 
and  whereas  it  is  expedient  and  necessary  that  carriages  and  other 
conveniences,  upon  the  march  of  troops  in  his  Majesty's  dominions 
in  America,,  should  be  supplied  for  that  purpose:  be  it  enacted  .  .  .  , 
That  for  and  during  the  continuance  of  this  act,  and  no  longer, 
it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  to  and  for  the  constables,  tithingmen, 
magistrates,  and  other  civil  officers  of  villages,  towns,  townships, 
cities,  districts,  and  other  places,  within  his  Majesty's  dominions 
in  America,  and  in  their  default  or  absence,  for  any  one  justice 
of  the  peace  inhabiting  in  or  near  any  such  village,  township, 
city,  district  or  place,  and  for  no  others ;  and  such  constables  .  .  . 
and  other  civil  officers  as  aforesaid,  are  hereby  required  to  billet 
and  quarter  the  officers  and  soldiers,  in  his  Majesty's  service,  in 
the  barracks  provided  by  the  colonies;  and  if  there  shall  not  be 
sufficient  room  in  the  said  barracks  for  the  officers  and  soldiers, 
then  and  in  such  case  only,  to  quarter  and  billet  the  residue  .  .  . 
in  inns,  livery  stables,  ale-houses,  victualling-houses,  and  the  houses 
of  sellers  of  wine  by  retail  to  be  drank  in  their  own  houses  or  places 
thereunto  belonging,  and  all  houses  of  persons  selling  of  rum, 
brandy,  strong  water,  cyder  or  metheglin,  by  retail,  to  be  drank  in 
houses;  and  in  case  there  shall  not  be  sufficient  room  for  the 
officers  and  soldiers  in  such  barracks,  inns,  victualling  and  other 
publick  ale-houses,  that  in  such  and  no  other  case,  and  upon  no 
other  account,  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  the  governor  and 
council  of  each  respective  province  in  his  Majesty's  dominions  in 
America,  to  authorize  and  appoint,  and  they  are  hereby  directed 
and  impowered  to  authorize  and  appoint,  such  proper  person  or 
persons  as  they  shall  think  fit,  to  take,  hire  and  make  fit,  and,  in 
default  of  the  said  governor  and  council  appointing  and  author 
izing  such  person  or  persons,  or  in  default  of  such  person  or  per 
sons  so  appointed  neglecting  or  refusing  to  do  their  duty,  in  that 
case  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  any  two  or  more  of  his  Majesty's 
justices  of  the  peace  in  or  near  the  said  villages,  towns,  townships, 
cities,  districts,  and  other  places,  and  they  are  hereby  required 
to  take,  hire,  and  make  fit  for  the  reception  of  his  Majesty's 
forces,  such  and  so  many  uninhabited  houses,  outhouses,  barns, 
or  other  buildings,  as  shall  be  necessary,  to  quarter  therein  the 
residue  of  such  officers  and  soldiers  for  whom  there  should  not  be 
room  in  such  barracks  and  publick  houses  as  aforesaid  .  .  . 


1765]  QUARTERING  ACT  133 

II.  And  it  is  hereby  declared  and  enacted,  That  there  shall  be 
no  more  billets  at  any  time  ordered,   than  there  are  effective 
soldiers  present  to  be  quartered  therein:    and  in  order  that  this 
service  may  be  effectually  provided  for,  the  commander  in  chief 
in  America,  or  other  officer  under  whose  orders  any  regiment  or 
company  shall   march,   shall,   from   time   to   time,   give  ...  as 
early  notice  as  conveniently  may  be,  in  writing,  signed  by  such 
commander  or  officer  of  their  march,  specifying  their  numbers 
and  time  of  marching  as  near  as  may  be,  to  the  respective  governors 
of  each  province  through  which  they  are  to  march  .  .  . 

III.  [Military  officers  taking  upon  themselves  to  quarter  sol 
diers  contrary  to  this  act,  or  using  any  menace  to  a  civil  officer 
to  deter  him  from  his  duty,  to  be  cashiered.     Persons  aggrieved 
by  having  soldiers  quartered  upon  them  may  complain  to  justices 
of  the  peace,  and  be  relieved.] 

##-£-K*-3f## 

V.  Provided  nevertheless,  and  it  is  hereby  enacted,  That  the 
officers  and  soldiers  so  quartered  and  billeted  as  aforesaid  (except 
such  as  shall  be  quartered  in  the  barracks,  and  hired  uninhabited 
houses,  or  other  buildings  as  aforesaid)  shall  be  received  and  fur 
nished  with  diet,  and  small  beer,  cyder,  or  rum  mixed  with  water, 
by  the  owners  of  the  inns,  livery  stables,  alehouses,  victualling- 
houses,  and  other  houses  in  which  they  are  allowed  to  be  quar 
tered  and  billeted  by  this  act;   paying  and  allowing  for  the  same 
the  several  rates  herein  after  mentioned  to  be  payable,  out  of  the 
subsistence-money,  for  diet  and  small  beer,  cyder,  or  rum  mixed 
with  water. 

VI.  Provided  always,  That  in  case  any  innholder,  or  other 
person,  on  whom  any  non-commission  officers  or  private  men 
shall  be  quartered  by  virtue  of  this  act,  .  .  .  (except  on  a  march, 
or  employed  in  recruiting,  and  likewise  except  the  recruits  by  them 
raised,  for  the  space  of  seven  days  at  most,  for  such  non-commission 
officers  and  soldiers  who  are  recruiting,  and  recruits  by  them 
raised)  shall  be  desirous  to  furnish  such  non-commission  officers 
or  soldiers  with  candles,  vinegar,  and  salt,  and  with  small  beer  or 
cyder,  not  exceeding  five  pints,  or  half  a  pint  of  rum  mixed  with  a 
quart  of  water,  for  each  man  per  diem,  gratis,  and  allow  to  such  non- 
commission  officers  or  soldiers  the  use  of  fire,  and  the  necessary 
u[n]tensils  for  dressing  and  eating  their  meat,  and  shall  give 


134  QUARTERING  ACT  [Apri 

notice  of  such  his  desire  to  the  commanding  officer,  and  shall 
furnish  and  allow  the  same  accordingly;  then  ...  the  non- 
commission  officers  and  soldiers  so  quartered  shall  provide  their 
own  victuals ;  and  the  officer  to  whom  it  belongs  to  receive,  or  that 
actually  does  receive,  the  pay  and  subsistence  of  such  non-com 
mission  officers  and  soldiers,  shall  pay  the  several  sums  herein 
after-mentioned  to  be  payable,  out  of  the  subsistence-money, 
for  diet  and  small  beer,  to  the  non-commission  officers  and  soldiers 
aforesaid  .  .  . 

VII.  And  whereas  there  are  several  barracks  in  several  places 
in  his  Majesty's  said  dominions  in  America,  or  some  of  them, 
provided  by  the  colonies,  for  the  lodging  and  covering  of  soldiers 
in  lieu  of  quarters,  for  the  ease  and  conveniency  as  well  of  the 
inhabitants  of  and  in  such  colonies,  as  of  the  soldiers ;  it  is  hereby 
further  enacted,  That  all  such  officers  and  soldiers,  so  put  and 
placed  in  such  barracks,  or  in  hired  uninhabited  houses,  out 
houses,  barns,  or  other  buildings,  shall,  from  time  to  time,  be 
furnished  and  supplied  there  by  the  persons  to  be  authorized  or 
appointed  for  that  purpose  by  the  governor  and  council  of  each 
respective  province,  or  upon  neglect  or  refusal  of  such  governor 
and  council  in  any  province,  then  by  two  or  more  justices  of  the 
peace  residing  in  or  near  such  place,  with  fire,  candles,  vinegar,  and 
salt,  bedding,  utensils  for  dressing  their  victuals,  and  small  beer  or 
cyder,  not  exceeding  five  pints,  or  half  a  pint  of  rum  mixed  with  a 
quart  of  water,  to  each  man,  without  paying  any  thing  for  the  same. 

VIII.  [Persons  taking  or  hiring  uninhabited  houses,   &c.,  for 
troops,  and  furnishing  supplies  as  aforesaid,  to  be  reimbursed  by 
the  province.] 

******** 
XI.  And  be  it  further  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  if  any  constable, 
tythingman,  magistrate,  or  other  chief  officer  or  person  whatso 
ever,  who,  by  virtue  or  colour  of  this  act,  shall  quarter  or  billet, 
or  be  employed  in  quartering  or  billeting,  any  officers  or  soldiers, 
within  his  Majesty's  said  dominions  in  America,  shall  neglect  or 
refuse,  for  the  space  of  two  hours,  to  quarter  or  billet  such  officers 
or  soldiers,  when  thereunto  required,  in  such  manner  as  is  by 
this  act  directed,  provided  sufficient  notice  be  given  before  the 
arrival  of  such  forces;  ...  or  in  case  any  victualler,  or  any  other 
person  .  .  .  ,  liable  by  this  act  to  have  any  officer  or  soldier 


1765]  QUARTERING   ACT  135 

billeted  or  quartered  on  him  or  her,  shall  refuse  to  receive  or  victual 
any  such  officer  or  soldier  ...  ;  or  in  case  any  person  or  persons 
shall  refuse  to  furnish  or  allow,  according  to  the  directions  of  this 
act,  the  several  things  herein  before  directed  to  be  furnished  or 
allowed  to  officers  and  soldiers,  so  quartered  or  billeted  on  him  or 
her,  or  in  the  barracks,  and  hired  uninhabited  houses,  out-houses, 
barns  or  other  buildings,  as  aforesaid,  at  the  rate  herein  after 
mentioned ;  and  shall  be  thereof  convicted  before  one  of  the  mag 
istrates  of  any  one  of  the  supreme  chief  or  principal  common  law 
courts  of  the  colony  where  such  offence  shall  be  committed,  .  .  . 
[every  such  offender  shall  forfeit  not  less  than  forty  shillings  nor 
more  than  £5.] 

******** 

XV.  And  be  if  further  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  for  the  better  and 
more  regular  provision  of  carriages  for  his  Majesty's  forces  in 
their  marches,  or  for  their  arms,  cloaths,  or  accoutrements,  in 
his  Majesty's  said  dominions  in  America,  all  justices  of  the  peace 
within  their  several  villages  .  .  .  [&cf]  .  .  .  and  places,  being 
duly  required  thereunto  by  an  order  from  his  Majesty,  or  the 
general  of  his  forces,  or  of  the  general  commanding,  or  the  com 
manding  officer  there  shall,  as  often  as  such  order  is  brought  and 
shewn  unto  one  or  more  or  them,  by  the  quarter-master,  adjutant, 
or  other  officer  of  the  regiment,  detachment,  or  company,  so  ordered 
to  march,  issue  out  his  or  their  warrants  to  the  constables  ...  or 
other  officers  of  the  villages  .  .  .  and  other  places,  from,  through, 
near,  or  to  which  such  regiment,  detachment,  or  company,  shall 
be  ordered  to  march,  requiring  them  to  make  such  provision  for 
carriages,  with  able  men  to  drive  the  same,  as  shall  be  mentioned 
in  the  said  warrant :  allowing  them  reasonable  time  to  do  the  same, 
that  the  neighbouring  parts  may  not  always  bear  the  burthen: 
and  in  case  sufficient  carriages  cannot  be  provided  within  any  such 
village  ...  or  other  place,  then  the  next  justice  or  justices  of 
the  peace  of  the  village  ...  or  other  place,  shall,  upon  such 
order  as  aforesaid  .  .  .  ,  issue  his  or  their  warrants  to  the  con 
stables  ...  or  other  officers,  of  such  next  village  ...  or  other 
place,  for  the  purposes  aforesaid,  to  make  up  such  deficiency; 
and  such  constable  ...  or  other  officer,  shall  order  or  appoint 
such  person  or  persons,  having  carriages,  within  their  respective 
villages  ...  or  other  places,  as  they  shall  think  proper,  to  provide 


136     RESOLUTIONS  OF  THE  STAMP  ACT  CONGRESS    [Oct.  19 

and  furnish  such  carriages  and  men,  according  to  the  warrant 
aforesaid  .  .  . 

XVI.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  pay  or  hire  for  a 
New  York  waggon,  carrying  twelve  hundred  pounds  gross  weight, 
shall  be  seven  pence  sterling  for  each  mile;  and  for  every  other 
carriage  in  that  and  every  other  colony  .  .  .  ,  in  the  same  pro 
portion;  and  at  or  after  the  same  rate  or  price  for  what  weight 
every  such  other  carriage  shall  carry;  and  that  the  first  day's 
pay  or  hire  for  every  such  carriage,  shall  be  paid  down  by  such 
officer  to  such  constable  ...  or  other  civil  officer,  who  shall  get 
or  procure  such  carriages,  for  the  use  of  the  owner  or  owners 
thereof ;  and  the  pay  or  hire  for  every  such  carriage  after  the  first 
day,  shall  be  paid  every  day,  from  day  to  day,  by  such  officer  as 
aforesaid,  into  the  hands  of  the  driver  or  drivers  of  such  carriages 
respectively,  until  such  carriages  shall  be  discharged  from  such 
service,  for  the  use  of  the  owner  and  owners  thereof. 

******** 

XVIII.  Provided  also,  That  no  such  waggon,  cart,  or  carriage, 
shall  be  obliged  to  travel  more  than  one  day's  march,  if,  within 
that  time,  they  shall  arrive  at  any  other  place  where  other  car 
riages  may  be  procured;  but,  in  case  other  sufficient  carriages 
cannot  be  procured,  then  such  carriages  shall  be  obliged  to  con 
tinue  in  the  service  till  they  shall  arrive  at  such  village  ...  or 
other  place,  where  proper  and  sufficient  carriages,  for  the  service 
of  the  forces,  may  be  procured. 

******** 


No.  35.     Resolutions  of  the  Stamp  Act 
Congress 

October  19,  1765 

IN  a  circular  letter  of  June  8,  1765,  the  Massachusetts  House  of  Represent 
atives  proposed  to  the  other  colonies  the  appointment  of  committees  to  meet 
at  New  York,  in  October,  "  to  consult  together  on  the  present  circumstances 
of  the  colonies,  and  the  difficulties  to  which  they  are  and  must  be  reduced  by 
the  operation  of  the  acts  of  parliament,  for  levying  duties  and  taxes  on  the 
colonies;  and  to  consider  of  a  general  and  united,  dutiful,  loyal  and  humble 
representation  of  their  condition  to  his  majesty  and  to  the  parliament,  and  to 


1765]      RESOLUTIONS   OF  THE   STAMP  ACT  CONGRESS     137 

implore  relief."  The  congress  met  October  7,  delegates,  variously  appointed 
being  present  from  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  New  York, 
New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland,  and  South  Carolina. 
Timothy  Ruggles  of  Massachusetts  was  chosen  chairman.  On  the  ipth  a 
"declaration  of  the  rights  and  grievances  of  the  colonists  in  America,"  origi 
nally  drafted  by  John  Dickinson,  a  delegate  from  Pennsylvania,  was  agreed  to; 
on  the  22d  a  petition  to  the  King,  also  drawn  by  Dickinson,  and  a  memorial 
and  petition  to  the  House  of  Lords,  were  approved,  followed  on  the  23d  by  a 
petition  to  the  Commons.  After  voting  to  recommend  to  the  several  colonies 
the  appointment  of  special  agents  "for  soliciting  relief  from  their  present 
grievances"  in  England,  the  congress  adiourned.  Ruggles  did  not  assent  to 
the  declaration  of  the  congress,  and  was  later  censured  for  his  refusal  by  the 
Massachusetts  House  of  Representatives.  The  petition  to  the  Commons  was 
presented  in  that  body  January  27,  1766,  and,  after  some  debate,  was  passed 
over  without  action. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Almon's  Prior  Documents,  27,  28.  The  journal 
of  the  congress  was  printed  in  Niles's  Weekly  Register,  II.,  337-342,  353- 
355,  and  reprinted  in  Niles's  Principles  and  Acts  of  the  Revolution.  Dick 
inson's  draft  is  in  his  Writings  (Ford's  ed.,  1895),  I.,  183-187.  The  best 
account  of  the  congress  is  that  of  Frothingham,  Rise  of  the  Republic,  chap.  5 ; 
see  also  two  letters  to  Thomas  McKean,  in  John  Adams's  Works,  X.,  60-63. 


The  members  of  this  Congress,  sincerely  devoted,  with  the 
warmest  sentiments  of  affection  and  duty  to  his  Majesty's  person 
and  government,  inviolably  attached  to  the  present  happy  estab 
lishment  of  the  Protestant  succession,  and  with  minds  deeply 
impressed  by  a  sense  of  the  present  and  impending  misfortunes 
of  the  British  colonies  on  this  continent;  having  considered  as 
maturely  as  time  will  permit,  the  circumstances  of  the  said  colo 
nies,  esteem  it  our  indispensible  duty  to  make  the  following 
declarations  of  our  humble  opinion,  respecting  the  most  essential 
rights  and  liberties  of  the  colonists,  and  of  the  grievances  under 
which  they  labour,  by  reason  of  several  late  acts  of  parliament. 

I.  That  his  Majesty's  subjects  in  these  colonies,  owe  the  same 
allegiance  to  the  crown  of  Great  Britain,  that  is  owing  from  his 
subjects  born  within  the  realm,  and  all  due  subordination  to  that 
august  body  the  parliament  of  Great-Britain. 

II.  That  his  Majesty's  liege  subjects  in  these  colonies,   are 
intitled  to  all  the  inherent  rights  and  liberties  of  his  natural  born 

s,  within  the  kingdom  of  Great-Britain. 
That  it  is  inseparably  essential  to  the  freedom  of  a  people, 
and  the  undoubted  right  of  Englishmen,  that  no  Taxes  be  imposed 


138     RESOLUTIONS  OF  THE  STAMP  ACT  CONGRESS    [Oct.  19 

on  them  but  with  their  own  consent,  given  personally,  or  by  their 
representatives. 

IV.  That  the  people  of  these  colonies  are  not,  and,  from  their 
local   circumstances,    cannot    be,    represented   in    the    House    of 
Commons  in   Great-Britain. 

V.  That  the  only  representatives  of  the  people  of  these  colo 
nies  are  persons  chosen  therein  by  themselves,  and  that  no  taxes 
ever  have  been,  or  can  be  constitutionally  imposed  on  them,  but 
by  their  respective  legislatures. 

VI.  That  all  supplies  to  the  crown  being  free  gifts  of  the 
people,  it  is  unreasonable  and  inconsistent  with  the  principles 
and  spirit  of  the  British  constitution,  for  the  people  of  Great- 
Britain  to  grant  to  his  Majesty  the  property  of  the  colonists. 

VII.  That  trial  by  jury,  is  the  inherent  and  invaluable  right 
of  every  British  subject  in  these  colonies. 

VIII.  That  .  .  .  [the  Stamp  Act]  .  .  .  ,  by  imposing  taxes  on 
the  inhabitants  of  these  colonies,  and  the  said  act,  and  several 
other  acts,  by  extending  the  jurisdiction  of  the  courts  of  admiralty 
beyond  its  ancient  limits,  have  a  manifest  tendency  to  subvert 
the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  colonists. 

IX.  That  the  duties  imposed  by  several  late  acts  of  parlia 
ment,   from   the   peculiar   circumstances   of   these   colonies,   will 
be  extremely  burthensome  and  grievous;    and  from  the  scarcity 
of  specie,  the  payment  of  them  absolutely  impracticable. 

X.  That  as  the  profits  of  the  trade  of  these  colonies  ultimately 
center  in  Great-Britain,  to  pay  for  the  manufactures  which  they 
are  obliged  to  take  from  thence,  they  eventually  contribute  very 
largely  to  all  supplies  granted  there  to  the  crown. 

XI.  That  the  restrictions  imposed  by  several  late  acts  of  par 
liament  on  the  trade  of  these  colonies,  will  render  them  unable 
to  purchase  the  manufactures  of  Great-Britain. 

XII.  That  the    increase,    prosperity    and    happiness    of    these 
colonies,  depend  on  the  full  and  free  enjoyments  of  their  rights 
and  liberties,   and   an   intercourse   with   Great-Britain   mutually 
affectionate  and  advantageous. 

XIII.  That  it  is  the  right  of  the  British  subjects  in  these  colo 
nies  to  petition  the  king,  or  either  house  of  parliament. 

Lastly,  That  it  is  the  indispensible  duty  of  these  colonies,  to 
the  best  of  sovereigns,  to  the  mother  country,  and  to  themselves, 


1765]  DECLARATORY  ACT  139 

to  endeavour  by  a  loyal  and  dutiful  address  to  his  Majesty,  and 
humble  applications  to  both  houses  of  parliament,  to  procure  the 
repeal  of  the  act  for  granting  and  applying  certain  stamp  duties, 
of  all  clauses  of  any  other  acts  of  parliament,  whereby  the  juris 
diction  of  the  admiralty  is  extended  as  aforesaid,  and  of  the  other 
late  acts  for  the  restriction  of  American  commerce. 


No.  36.     Declaratory  Act 

March  18,  1766 

THE  first  legislative  protest  against  the  Stamp  Act  came  from  Virginia. 
May  30,  1765,  the  House  of  Burgesses  adopted  four  resolutions,  submitted  by 
Patrick  Henry,  declaring  that  "The  General  Assembly  of  this  colony,  together 
with  his  Majesty  or  his  substitutes,  have,  in  their  representative  capacity,  the 
only  exclusive  right  and  power  to  lay  taxes  and  imposts  upon  the  inhabitants 
of  this  colony ;  and  that  every  attempt  to  vest  such  power  in  any  other  person 
or  persons  whatever  than  the  General  Assembly  aforesaid,  is  illegal,  uncon 
stitutional,  and  unjust,  and  have  [has]  a  manifest  tendency  to  destroy  British 
as  well  as  American  liberty."  On  the  8th  of  June,  Massachusetts  issued  the 
call  for  the  Stamp  Act  congress.  The  Rockingham  ministry,  which  succeeded 
that  of  Grenville  in  July,  was  favorable  to  America ;  and  Con  way,  the  minister 
in  charge  of  colonial  affairs,  was  opposed  to  the  policy  of  taxing  the  colonies 
without  their  consent.  By  November  i,  the  date  on  which  the  Stamp  Act 
was  to  go  into  effect,  the  resolutions  of  assemblies  and  public  meetings,  and 
the  intimidation  and  violence  of  the  "Sons  of  Liberty"  and  others,  had  made 
the  execution  of  the  act  impossible,  even  if  stamps  could  have  been  had.  A 
circular  letter  from  Conway  to  the  governors,  dated  October  24,  urging  them 
to  do  their  utmost  to  maintain  law  and  order,  and  authorizing  them  to  call 
upon  the  military  and  naval  commanders  for  assistance,  if  necessary,  was 
unavailing.  At  the  opening  of  Parliament,  December  17,  papers  relating  to 
affairs  in  America  were  submitted.  Numerous  petitions  were  also  presented 
setting  forth  the  losses  which  the  Stamp  Act  had  inflicted  upon  British  trade. 
A  resolution  declaratory  of  the  right  of  Parliament  to  tax  the  colonies,  sub 
mitted  February  3,  was  adopted  by  large  majorities.  On  the  6th  the  Lords, 
by  a  vote  of  59  to  54,  resolved  in  favor  of  executing  the  Stamp  Act;  but  a 
similar  proposition  in  the  Commons  was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  more  than  two 
to  one.  On  the  i2th  the  King  announced  himself  favorable  to  modification 
of  the  act;  while  the  examination  of  Franklin  before  the  House  of  Commons 
further  strengthened  the  argument  for  repeal.  The  repeal  bill  and  the  declar 
atory  bill  passed  the  Commons  March  4,  and  on  the  7th  the  declaratory  bill 
passed  the  Lords.  The  proposition  to  repeal  the  Stamp  Act,  however,  en 
countered  strong  opposition  in  the  Lords,  where  33  members  entered  a  pro- 


140  DECLARATORY  ACT  [March  18 

test  against  it  at  the  second  reading,  and  28  at  the  third;   but  on  the  i7th  the 
bill  passed,  and  the  next  day  both  acts  received  the  royal  assent. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Pickering's  Statutes  at  Large,  XXVII.,  19,  20. 
The  act  is  cited  as  6  Geo.  III.,  c.  12.  The  act  of  repeal  is  6  Geo.  III.,  c.  n. 
For  the  debates,  see  the  Parliamentary  History,  XVI.,  and  the  Annual  Regis 
ter  (1766).  Franklin's  examination  is  in  his  Works  (Sparks's  ed.,  IV.,  161- 
198;  Smyth's  ed.,  IV.,  412-448). 

An  act  for  the  better  securing  the  dependency  of  his  Majesty's  domin 
ions  in  America  upon  the  crown  and  parliament  of  Great  Britain. 

WHEREAS  several  of  the  houses  of  representatives  in  his  Maj 
esty's  colonies  and  plantations  in  America,  have  of  late,  against  law, 
claimed  to  themselves,  or  to  the  general  assemblies  of  the  same,  the 
sole  and  exclusive  right  of  imposing  duties  and  taxes  upon  his 
Majesty's  subjects  in  the  said  colonies  and  plantations;  and  have, 
in  pursuance  of  such  claim,  passed  certain  votes,  resolutions,  and 
orders,  derogatory  to  the  legislative  authority  of  parliament,  and 
inconsistent  with  the  dependency  of  the  said  colonies  and  plantations 
upon  the  crown  of  Great  Britain :  ...  be  it  declared  .  .  .  ,  That 
the  said  colonies  and  plantations  in  America  have  been,  are,  and 
of  right  ought  to  be,  subordinate  unto,  and  dependent  upon  the 
imperial  crown  and  parliament  of  Great  Britain;  and  that  the 
King's  majesty,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  lords 
spiritual  and  temporal,  and  commons  of  Great  Britain,  in  parlia 
ment  assembled,  had,  hath,  and  of  right  ought  to  have,  full  power 
and  authority  to  make  laws  and  statutes  of  sufficient  force  and 
validity  to  bind  the  colonies  and  people  of  America,  subjects  of 
the  crown  of  Great  Britain,  in  all  cases  whatsoever. 

II.  And  be  it  further  declared  .  .  .  ,  That  all  resolutions,  votes, 
orders,  and  proceedings,  in  any  of  the  said  colonies  or  plantations, 
whereby  the  power  and  authority  of  the  parliament  of  Great 
Britain,  to  make  laws  and  statutes  as  aforesaid,  is  denied,  or 
drawn  into  question,  are,  and  are  hereby  declared  to  be,  utterly 
null  and  void  to  all  intents  and  purposes  whatsoever. 


1 766]    ACT   SUSPENDING   THE   NEW   YORK   ASSEMBLY       141 

No.  37.     Act    suspending   the    New    York 
Assembly 

June  15,  1767 

IN  a  message  to  the  New  York  House  of  Assembly,  June  13,  1766,  Gov 
ernor  Moore  informed  the  House  of  the  expected  arrival  of  troops  in  the  city, 
and  recommended  that  provision  be  made  for  them  in  accordance  with  the 
late  Quartering  Act  [No.  34].  On  the  igth  the  House  adopted  five  resolu 
tions,  reported  by  Philip  Livingston,  excusing  themselves  from  compliance 
with  the  request,  on  the  ground  that  the  requisition  was  "of  such  a  nature  and 
tendency  that,  should  it  be  granted,  the  expence  might,  and  probably  would, 
very  soon  exceed  the  ability  of  this  colony  to  pay,  as  the  number  of  troops 
that  may  from  time  to  time  require  the  like  provision,  are  .  .  .  entirely 
unknown,  and  the  articles  required  for  the  greatest  part  .  .  .  unprecedented;" 
but  the  House  intimated,  at  the  same  time,  that  a  balance  of  £3990  in  the 
treasury  of  the  province,  subject  to  the  order  of  the  commander-in-chief  of 
the  forces  in  America,  might  be  used  for  the  purpose  in  question.  On  an 
inquiry  from  the  governor  as  to  the  precise  use  to  which  the  money  referred  to 
was  to  be  put,  the  assembly  again,  June  23,  pleaded  the  small  resources  of  the 
colony,  but  recommended  that  provision  be  made  "for  furnishing  the  bar 
racks  in  the  cities  of  New  York  and  Albany,  with  beds,  bedding,  fire-wood, 
candles,  and  utensils  for  dressing  of  victual  for  two  battalions,  not  exceeding 
five  hundred  men  each,  and  one  company  of  artillery  for  one  year" ;  and  that 
the  money  beforementioned  be  drawn  upon  for  the  purpose.  A  bill  to  this 
effect  was  accordingly  brought  in  and  passed,  and  July  3  received  the  assent 
of  the  governor.  A  report  of  the  action  of  the  assembly  having  been  made  to 
the  Board  of  Trade,  the  Earl  of  Shelburne,  in  a  letter  of  August  6  to  Gov 
ernor  Moore,  expressed  the  hope  that  the  requirements  of  the  Quartering  Act 
would  be  fully  complied  with.  To  this  letter,  communicated  to  the  assembly 
in  November,  the  House  replied  that  New  York  had  already  assumed  a 
heavier  financial  burden  in  the  matter  of  supporting  troops  than  any  other 
colony,  and  that,  since  the  act  appeared  to  them  designed  for  the  needs  of 
soldiers  on  the  march,  and  not  of  such  as  might  be  stationed  in  the  province 
for  a  whole  year,  they  could  not  "put  it  in  the  power  of  any  person"  to  lay 
upon  them  such  a  "ruinous  and  unsupportable "  expense.  December  19 
the  assembly  was  prorogued  until  the  following  March.  May  15,  1767,  the 
committee  of  the  House  of  Commons  to  whom  the  matter  had  been  referred, 
recommended  the  suspension  of  the  assembly  until  the  terms  of  the  Quar 
tering  Act  were  complied  with;  and  June  15  a  bill  embodying  the  recommen' 
dations  received  the  royal  assent.  The  assembly  continuing  obstinate,  it  was 
dissolved.  The  newly  elected  House  also  refused  compliance,  and  was  like 
wise  dissolved.  A  third,  in  1769,  made  the  required  provision. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Pickering's  Statutes  at  Large,  XXVII. ,  609,  610. 


142      ACT  SUSPENDING  THE  NEW  YORK  ASSEMBLY   [June  15 

The  act  is  cited  as  7  Geo.  III.,  c.  59.     Extracts  from  the  proceedings  ot  the 
New  York  legislature  are  in  Almon's  Prior  Documents. 

An  act  for  restraining  and  prohibiting  the  governor,  council,  and 
house  of  representatives,  of  the  province  of  New  York,  until 
provision  shall  have  been  made  for  furnishing  the  King's  troops 
with  all  the  necessaries  required  by  law,  from  passing  or  assenting 
to  any  act  of  assembly,  vote,  or  resolution,  for  any  other  purpose. 

[The  preamble  recites  the  passage  of  the  Mutiny  or  Quartering 
Act  of  1765,  continued  by  subsequent  reenactments  to  March  24, 
1769;  the  refusal  of  the  New  York  house  of  representatives  to 
comply  with  the  act  of  1765,  and  its  tender  of  quarters  and  supplies 
"inconsistent  with  the  provisions,  and  in  opposition  to  the  direc 
tions,"  of  the  said  act,  and  continues:]  In  order  therefore  to 
enforce,  within  the  said  province  of  New  York,  the  supplying  of 
his  Majesty's  troops  with  the  necessaries  and  in  the  manner  re 
quired  by  the  said  acts  of  parliament;  ...  be  it  enacted  .  .  .  , 
That  from  and  after  .  .  .  [October  i,  1767,]  .  .  .  until  provision 
shall  have  been  made  by  the  said  assembly  of  New  York  for 
furnishing  his  Majesty's  troops  within  the  said  province  with  all 
such  necessaries  as  are  required  by  the  said  acts  of  parliament, 
or  any  of  them,  to  be  furnished  for  such  troops,  it  shall  not  be 
lawful  for  the  governor,  lieutenant  governor,  or  person  presiding 
or  acting  as  governor  or  commander  in  chief,  or  for  the  council 
for  the  time  being,  within  the  colony,  plantation,  or  province,  of 
New  York  in  America,  to  pass,  or  give  his  or  their  assent  to,  or  con 
currence  in,  the  making  or  passing  of  any  act  of  assembly;  or  his 
or  their  assent  to  any  order,  resolution,  or  vote,  in  concurrence 
with  the  house  of  representatives  for  the  time  being  within  the 
said  colony,  plantation,  or  province;  or  for  the  said  house  of  rep 
resentatives  to  pass  or  make  any  bill,  order,  resolution,  or  vote, 
(orders,  resolutions,  or  votes,  for  adjourning  such  house  only, 
excepted)  of  any  kind,  for  any  other  purpose  whatsoever;  and 
that  all  acts  of  assembly,  orders,  resolutions,  and  votes  whatsoever, 
which  shall  or  may  be  passed,  assented  to,  or  made,  contrary  to 
the  tenor  and  meaning  of  this  act,  after  .  .  .  [October  i,  1767,] 
.  .  .  within  the  said  colony,  plantation,  or  province,  .  .  .  shall  be, 
and  are  hereby  declared  to  be,  null  and  void,  and  of  no  force  or 
effect  whatsoever. 


1767]  TOWNSHEND    REVENUE   ACT  143 


No.  38.     Townshend  Revenue  Act 

June  29,   1767 

IN  August,  1776,  Pitt,  now  Earl  of  Chatham,  succeeded  Rockingham  as 
prime  minister;  but  illness  soon  incapacitated  him  for  active  participation  in 
affairs,  and  the  leadership  fell  to  Townshend,  chancellor  of  the  exchequer. 
The  irritation  over  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  was  increased  by  the  reports 
of  continued  agitation  in  America;  while  the  reduction  of  the  land  tax  from 
45.  to  3$.  ii-  the  pound,  brought  about  by  factious  opposition  to  the  ministry, 
necessitated  revenue  from  some  other  source.  "On  January  26,  1767,  in  a 
debate  on  the  army,  George  Grenville  moved  that  America,  like  Ireland, 
should  support  an  establishment  of  her  own;  and  in  the  course  of  the  discus 
sion  which  followed,  Townshend  took  occasion  to  declare  himself  a  firm  ad 
vocate  of  the  principle  of  the  Stamp  Act."  The  plans  for  carrying  his  policy 
into  effect  were  brought  forward  by  Townshend  in  May,  and  embraced  three 
points:  the  enforcement  of  existing  lawrs,  the  appointment  of  customs  com 
missioners,  and  provision  for  adequate  revenue.  The  strong  opposition  in 
the  colonies  to  the  Sugar  Act  had  led,  in  1766,  to  the  repeal  of  the  duties  im 
posed  by  that  act.  except  the  duty  on  tea  (6  Geo.  III.,  c.  52).  In  framing  the 
revenue  act  of  1767,  Townshend  professed  to  observe  the  distinction  urged  in 
America  between  external  and  internal  taxation,  and  to  provide  a  revenue  by 
means  of  import  duties  only.  The  proceeds  of  the  duties,  estimated  at  about 
£40,000,  were  to  be  applied  towards  the  civil  and  military  expenses  of  the 
colonies.  Further  to  insure  the  observance  of  the  act,  writs  of  assistance  were 
legalized.  On  the  4th  of  September  Townshend  died,  and  the  execution 
of  the  act,  which  had  not  yet  gone  into  operation,  devolved  upon  his  succes 
sors.  The  duties  imposed  by  the  act,  with  the  exception  of  the  duty  on  tea, 
were  repealed  by  c.:i  act  of  April  12,  1770. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Pickering's  Statutes  at  Large,  XXVII.,  505-512. 
The  act  is  cited  as  7  Geo.  III.,  c.  46.  For  the  debates  and  proceedings  see 
the  Parliamentary  History,  XVI.  Summaries  of  the  debates,  reflecting  as 
usual  public  opinion  in  England,  are  in  the  Annual  Register  (1767).  Of 
contemporary  discussions  in  America,  Dickinson's  Letters  from  a  Farmer 
(Writings,  Ford's  ed.,  I.,  305-406)  is  the  most  important.  The  acts  estab 
lishing  customs  commissioners  in  America  (7  Geo.  III.,  c.  41)  and  imposing 
duties  on  tea  (7  Geo.  III.,  c.  56),  the  other  parts  of  Townshend's  scheme,  are 
in  MacDonald's  Select  Charters,  Nos.  62  and  64.  The  act  of  repeal  is  10 
Geo.  III.,  c.  17. 

An  act  for  granting  certain  duties  in  the  British  colonies  and  plan 
tations  in  America;  for  allowing  a  drawback  of  the  duties  of 
customs  upon  the  exportation,  from  this  kingdom,  of  coffee  and 
cocoa  nuts  of  the  produce  of  the  said  colonies  or  plantations;  for 
discontinuing  the  drawbacks  payable  on  china  earthen  ware 


144  TOWNSHEND    REVENUE   ACT  [June  29 

exported  to  America;    and  for  more  effectually  preventing  the 
clandestine  running  of  goods  in  the  said  colonies  and  plantations. 

WHEREAS  it  is  expedient  that  a  revenue  should  be  raised,  in 
your  Majesty 's  dominions  in  America,  for  making  a  more  certain 
and  adequate  provision  for  defraying  the  charge  of  the  administra 
tion  of  justice,  and  the  support  of  civil  government,  in  such  prov 
inces  where  it  shall  be  found  necessary;  and  towards  further 
defraying  the  expences  of  defending,  protecting,  and  securing  the 
said  dominions;  ...  be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  from  and  after 
.  .  .  [November  20,  1767,]  ...  there  shall  be  raised,  levied, 
collected,  and  paid,  unto  his  Majesty,  his  heirs,  and  successors, 
for  and  upon  the  respective  Goods  herein  after  mentioned,  which 
shall  be  imported  from  Great  Britain  into  any  colony  or  plantation 
in  America  which  now  is,  or  hereafter  may  be,  under  the  dominion 
of  his  Majesty  .  .  .  ,  the  several  Rates  and  Duties  following ; 
that  is  to  say, 

For  every  hundred  weight  avoirdupois  of  crown,  plate,  flint, 
and  white  glass,  four  shillings  and  eight  pence. 

For  every  hundred  weight  avoirdupois  of  green  glass,  one 
shilling  and  two  pence. 

For  every  hundred  weight  avoirdupois  of  red  lead,  two  shil 
lings. 

For  every  hundred  weight  avoirdupois  of  white  lead,  two  shil 
lings. 

For  every  hundred  weight  avoirdupois  of  painters  colours,  two 
shillings. 

For  every  pound  weight  avoirdupois  of  tea,  three  pence. 

For  every  ream  of  paper,  usually  called  or  known  by  the  name 
of  Atlas  fine,  twelve  shillings. 

[Then  follow  specifications  of  duties  on  sixty-six  grades  or 
classes  of  paper.] 

******** 

IV.  .  .  .  and  that  all  the  monies  that  shall  arise  by  the  said 
duties  (except  the  necessary  charges  of  raising,  collecting,  levy 
ing,  recovering,  answering,  paying,  and  accounting  for  the  same) 
shall  be  applied,  in  the  first  place,  in  such  manner  as  is  herein 
after  mentioned,  in  making  a  more  certain  and  adequate  pro 
vision  for  the  charge  of  the  administration  of  justice,  and  the 


1767]  TOWNSHEND    REVENUE  ACT  145 

support  of  civil  government,  in  such  of  the  said  colonies  and 
plantations  where  it  shall  be  found  necessary ;  and  that  the  residue 
of  such  duties  shall  be  paid  into  the  receipt  of  his  Majesty's 
exchequer,  and  shall  be  entered  separate  and  apart  from  all  other 
monies  paid  or  payable  to  his  Majesty  .  .  .  ;  and  shall  be  there 
reserved,  to  be  from  time  to  time  disposed  of  by  parliament 
towards  defraying  the  necessary  expences  of  defending,  pro 
tecting,  and  securing,  the  British  colonies  and  plantations  in 
America. 

******** 

VI.  And  whereas  the  allowing  a  drawback  of  all  the  duties  oj 
customs  upon  the  exportation,  from  this  kingdom,  of  coffee  and  cocoa 
nuts,  the  growth  of  the  British  dominions  in  America,  may  be  a 
means  of  encouraging  the  growth  of  coffee  and  cocoa  in  the  said 
dominions;    be  it  therefore  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  from  and  after 
.  .  .  [November  20,   1767]  .  .  .  ,  upon  the  exportation  of  any 
coffee  or  cocoa  nuts,  of  the  growth  or  produce  of  any  British  colony 
or  plantation  in  America,  from  this  kingdom  as  merchandize,  the 
whole  duties  of  customs,  payable  upon  the  importation  of  such 
coffee  or  cocoa  nuts,  shall  be  drawn  back  and  repaid;    in  such 
manner,  and  under  such  rules,  regulations,  penalties,  and  for 
feitures,  as  any  drawback  or  allowance,  payable  out  of  the  duties 
of  customs  upon  the  exportation  of  such  coffee  or  cocoa  nuts, 
was,  could,  or  might  be  paid,  before  the  passing  of  this  act.  .  .  . 

VII.  And  it  is  hereby  further  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  no  drawback 
shall  be  allowed  for  any  china  earthen  ware  sold,  after  the  pass 
ing  of  this  act,  at  the  sale  of  the  united  company  of  merchants 
of  England  trading  to  the  East  Indies,  which  shall  be  entered  for 
exportation  from  Great  Britain  to  any  part  of  America.  .  .  . 

******** 

X.  And  whereas  by  .  .  .  [the  explanatory  Navigation  Act  of 
1662]  .  .  .  and  several  other  acts  now  in  force,  it  is  lawful  /or  any 
officer  of  his  Majesty's  customs,  authorized  by  writ  of  assistance 
under  the  seal  of  his  Majesty's  court  of  exchequer,  to  take  a  constable, 
headborough,  or  other  publick  officer  inhabiting  near  unto  the  place, 
and  in  the  day-time  to  enter  and  go  into  any  house,  shop,  cellar, 
warehouse,  or  room  or  other  place,  and,  in  case  of  resistance,  to  break 
open  doors,  chests,  trunks,  and  other  package  there,  to  seize,  and 
from  thence  to  bring,  any  kind  of  goods  or  merchandize  whatsoever 

L, 


146  MASSACHUSETTS    CIRCULAR   LETTER       [February  n 

prohibited  or  uncustomed,  and  to  put  and  secure  the  same  in  his 
Majesty's  store-house  next  to  the  place  where  such  seizure  shall  be 
made:  and  whereas  by  .  .  .  [the  Navigation  Act  of  1696]  .  .  .  it 
is,  amongst  other  things,  enacted,  that  the  officers  for  collecting  and 
managing  his  Majesty's  revenue,  and  inspecting  the  plantation 
trade,  in  America,  shall  have  the  same  powers  and  authorities  to 
enter  houses  or  warehouses,  to  search  for  and  seize  goods  prohibited 
to  be  imported  or  exported  into  or  out  of  any  of  the  said  planta 
tions,  or  for  which  any  duties  are  payable,  or  ought  to  have  been 
paid;  and  that  the  like  assistance  shall  be  given  to  the  said  officers 
in  the  execution  of  their  office,  as,  by  the  said  recited  act  of  the  four 
teenth  year  of  King  Charles  the  Second,  is  provided  for  the  officers 
in  England :  but,  no  authority  being  expressly  given  by  the  said  act 
.  .  .  of  King  William  the  third,  to  any  particular  court  to  grant 
such  writs  of  assistance  for  the  officers  of  the  customs  in  the  said 
plantations,  it  is  doubted  whether  such  officers  can  legally  enter 
houses  and  other  places  on  land,  to  search  for  and  seize  goods,  in  the 
manner  directed  by  the  said  recited  acts:  To  obviate  which  doubts 
for  the  future,  and  in  order  to  carry  the  intention  of  the  said 
recited  acts  into  effectual  execution,  be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That 
from  and  after  .  .  .  [November  '20,  1767,]  .  .  .  such  writs  of 
assistance,  to  authorize  and  impower  the  officers  of  his  Majesty's 
customs  to  enter  and  go  into  any  house  ...  or  other  place,  in 
the  British  colonies  or  plantations  in  America,  to  search  for  and 
seize  prohibited  or  uncustomed  goods  .  .  .  ,  shall  and  may  be 
granted  by  the  said  superior  or  supreme  court  of  justice  having 
jurisdiction  within  such  colony  or  plantation  respectively. 
******** 


No.  39.     Massachusetts  Circular  Letter 

February  n,   1768 

THE  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  met  Dec.  30,  1767.  The  address  of 
Governor  Bernard  dealt  with  the  question  of  the  boundaries  between  Massa 
chusetts  and  New  York  and  New  Hampshire  and  Maine,  and  did  not  men 
tion  the  Townshend  acts.  The  acts  were,  however,  read  in  the  House,  and 
the  consideration  of  them  referred  to  a  committee  of  nine  on  the  state  of  the 
province.  On  the  i2th  of  January  the  committee  reported  a  draft  of  a  letter 


1768]  MASSACHUSETTS    CIRCULAR   LETTER  147 

to  Dennis  De  Berdt,  agent  of  the  colony  in  England,  reviewing  the  arguments 
against  taxation  by  Great  Britain,  and  protesting  against  the  recent  acts  as 
unjust  and  unwarranted;  Subsequently  a  petition  to  the  King,  and  letters  to 
Shelburne,  Rockingham,  Camden,  Chatham,  Conway,  and  the  Commis 
sioners  of  the  Treasury,  were  adopted.  On  the  2ist  of  January  a  motion 
"to  appoint  a  time  to  consider  the  expediency  of  writing  to  the  assemblies  of 
the  other  colonies  on  this  continent,  with  respect  to  the  importance  of  their 
joining  with  them  in  petitioning  his  Majesty  at  this  time,"  was  rejected;  but 
on  Feb.  4  the  motion  was  reconsidered,  and  a  committee  appointed  "to  pre 
pare  a  letter  to  be  sent  to  each  of  the  Houses  of  Representatives  and  Bur 
gesses  on  the  continent,  to  inform  them  of  the  measures  which  this  House  has 
taken  with  regard  to  the  difficulties  arising  from  the  acts  of  Parliament  for 
levying  duties  and  taxes  on  the  American  colonists."  The  letter,  drawn  up  by 
Samuel  Adams,  was  reported  on  the  nth  and  adopted.  The  letter  was  laid 
before  the  cabinet  April  15,  by  Lord  Hillsborough,  secretary  of  state  for  the 
colonies.  A  letter  from  Hillsborough  to  the  governors  of  the  several  colonies, 
April  21,  called  upon  them  to  exert  their  "  utmost  influence"  to  prevent  the 
various  assemblies  from  taking  action  on  the  Massachusetts  circular;  while 
a  communication  to  Governor  Bernard,  of  the  following  day,  instructed  him 
to  require  the  assembly  to  rescind  the  resolution  under  which  the  circular 
letter  was  issued,  and,  in  case  of  refusal,  to  dissolve  them.  On  the  3oth  of 
June,  after  adopting  a  letter  to  Hillsborough  defending  their  action,  the 
House  by  a  vote  of  92  to  17,  refused  to  rescind.  The  next  day  the  General 
Court  was  dissolved. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Bradford's  Massachusetts  State  Papers,  134-136; 
the  same  work  gives  the  other  Massachusetts  letters  and  documents  referred 
to  above.  Almon's  Prior  Documents,  220,  gives  Hillsborough's  letter  to  the 
governors;  203-205,  extracts  from  the  letter  to  Bernard;  213-218,  replies  of 
other  colonies  to  the  circular  letter. 

Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  February  u,  1768. 
SIR, 

The  House  of  Representatives  of  this  province,  have  taken 
into  their  serious  consideration,  the  great  difficulties  that  must 
accrue  to  themselves  and  their  constituents,  by  the  operation  of 
several  acts  of  Parliament,  imposing  duties  and  taxes  on  the 
American  colonies. 

As  it  is  a  subject  in  which  every  colony  is  deeply  interested, 
they  have  no  reason'  to  doubt  but  your  House  is  deeply  impressed 
with  its  importance,  and  that  such  constitutional  measures  will 
be  come  into,  as  are  proper.  It  seems  to  be  necessary,  that  all 
possible  care  should  be  taken,  that  the  representatives  of  the 
several  assemblies,  upon  so  delicate  a  point,  should  harmonize 
with  each  other.  The  House,  therefore,  hope  that  this  letter  will 


148  MASSACHUSETTS   CIRCULAR   LETTER     [February  ir 

be  candidly  considered  in  no  other  light  then  as  expressing  a 
disposition  freely  to  communicate  their  mind  to  a  sister  colony 
upon  a  common  concern,  in  the  same  manner  as  they  would  be 
glad  to  receive  the  sentiments  of  your  or  any  other  House  of 
Assembly  on  the  continent. 

The  House  have  humbly  represented  to  the  ministry,  their  own 
sentiments,  that  his  Majesty's  high  court  of  Parliament  is  the 
supreme  legislative  power  over  the  whole  empire;  that  in  all  free 
states  the  constitution  is  fixed,  and  as  the  supreme  legislative 
derives  its  power  and  authority  from  the  constitution,  it  cannot 
overleap  the  bounds  of  it,  without  destroying  its  own  foundation; 
that  the  constitution  ascertains  and  limits  both  sovereignty  and 
allegiance,  and,  therefore,  his  Majesty's  American  subjects,  who 
acknowledge  themselves  bound  by  the  ties  of  allegiance,  have  an 
equitable  claim  to  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  fundamental  rules  of 
the  British  constitution;  that  it  is  an  essential,  unalterable  right, 
in  nature,  engrafted  into  the  British  constitution,  as  a  funda 
mental  law,  and  ever  held  sacred  and  irrevocable  by  the  subjects 
within  the  realm,  that  what  a  man  has  honestly  acquired  is  abso 
lutely  his  own,  which  he  may  freely  give,  but  cannot  be  taken 
from  him  without  his  consent;  that  the  American  subjects  may, 
therefore,  exclusive  of  any  consideration  of  charter  rights,  with 
a  decent  firmness,  adapted  to  the  character  of  free  men  and  sub 
jects,  assert  this  natural  and  constitutional  right. 

It  is,  moreover,  their  humble  opinion,  which  they  express  with 
the  greatest  deference  to  the  wisdom  of  the  Parliament,  that  the 
acts  made  there,  imposing  duties  on  the  people  of  this  province, 
with  the  sole  and  express  purpose  of  raising  a  revenue,  are  in 
fringements  of  their  natural  and  constitutional  rights;  because, 
as  they  are  not  represented  in  the  British  Parliament,  his  Majesty's 
Commons  in  Britain,  by  those  acts,  grant  their  property  without 
their  consent. 

This  House  further  are  of  opinion,  that  their  constituents, 
considering  their  local  circumstances,  cannot,  by  any  possibility, 
be  represented  in  the  Parliament;  and  that  it  will  forever  be 
impracticable,  that  they  should  be  equally  represented  there,  and 
consequently,  not  at  all ;  being  separated  by  an  ocean  of  a  thou 
sand  leagues.  That  his  Majesty's  royal  predecessors,  for  this 
reason,  were  graciously  pleased  to  form  a  subordinate  legislature 


i  y68]  MASSACHUSETTS    CIRCULAR   LETTER  149 

here,  that  their  subjects  might  enjoy  the  unalienable  right  of  a 
representation:  also,  that  considering  the  utter  impracticability 
of  their  ever  being  fully  and  equally  represented  in  Parliament, 
and  the  great  expense  that  must  unavoidably  attend  even  a  partial 
representation  there,  this  House  think  that  a  taxation  of  their 
constituents,  even  without  their  consent,  grievous  as  it  is,  would 
be  preferable  to  any  representation  that  could  be  admitted  for 
them  there. 

Upon  these  principles,  and  also  considering  that  were  the  right 
in  Parliament  ever  so  clear,  yet,  for  obvious  reasons,  it  would  be 
beyond  the  rules  of  equity  that  their  constituents  should  be  taxed, 
on  the  manufactures  of  Great  Britain  here,  in  addition  to  the 
duties  they  pay  for  them  in  England,  and  other  advantages  aris 
ing  to  Great  Britain,  from  the  acts  of  trade,  this  House  have 
preferred  a  humble,  dutiful,  and  loyal  petition,  to  our  most  gra 
cious  sovereign,  and  made  such  representations  to  his  Majesty's 
ministers,  as  they  apprehended  would  tend  to  obtain  redress. 

They  have  also  submitted  to  consideration,  whether  any  people 
can  be  said  to  enjoy  any  degree  of  freedom,  if  the  Crown,  in  addi 
tion  to  its  undoubted  authority  of  constituting  a  Governor,  should 
appoint  him  such  a  stipend  as  it  may  judge  proper,  without  the 
consent  of  the  people,  and  at  their  expense;  and  whether,  while 
the  judges  of  the  land,  and  other  civil  officers,  hold  not  their  com 
missions  during  good  behaviour,  their  having  salaries  appointed 
for  them  by  the  Crown,  independent  of  the  people,  hath  not  a 
tendency  to  subvert  the  principles  of  equity,  and  endanger  the  hap 
piness  and  security  of  the  subject. 

In  addition  to  these  measures,  the  House  have  written  a  letter 
to  their  agent,  which  he  is  directed  to  lay  before  the  ministry; 
wherein  they  take  notice  of  the  hardships  of  the  act  for  prevent 
ing  mutiny  and  desertion,  which  requires  the  Governor  and 
Council  to  provide  enumerated  articles  for  the  King's  marching 
troops,  and  the  people  to  pay  the  expenses;  and  also,  the  com 
mission  of  the  gentlemen  appointed  commissioners  of  the  cus 
toms,  to  reside  in  America,  which  authorizes  them  to  make  as 
many  appointments  as  they  think  fit,  and  to  pay  the  appointees 
what  sum  they  please,  for  whose  mal-conduct  they  are  not  account 
able;  from  whence  it  may  happen,  that  officers  of  the  Crown 
may  be  multiplied  to  such  a  degree  as  to  become  dangerous  to 


I 


150  BOSTON   PORT   ACT  [March  31 

the  liberty  of  the  people,  by  virtue  of  a  commission,  which  does  not 
appear  to  this  House  to  derive  any  such  advantages  to  trade  as 
many  have  supposed. 

These  are  the  sentiments  and  proceedings  of  this  House;  and 
as  they  have  too  much  reason  to  believe  that  the  enemies  of  the 
colonies  have  represented  them  to  his  Majesty's  ministers,  and 
to  the  Parliament,  as  factious,  disloyal,  and  having  a  disposition 
to  make  themselves  independent  of  the  mother  country,  they  have 
taken  occasion,  in  the  most  humble  terms,  to  assure  his  Majesty, 
and  his  ministers,  that,  with  regard  to  the  people  of  this  province, 
and,  as  they  doubt  not,  of  all  the  colonies,  the  charge  is  unjust. 
The  House  is  fully  satisfied,  that  your  Assembly  is  tco  generous 
and  liberal  in  sentiment,  to  believe  that  this  letter  proceeds  frcm 
an  ambition  of  taking  the  lead,  or  dictating  to  the  other  assemblies. 
They  freely  submit  their  opinions  to  the  judgment  of  others; 
and  shall  take  it  kind  in  your  House  to  point  out  to  them  any 
thing  further,  that  may  be  thought  necessary. 

This  House  cannot  conclude,  without  expressing  their  firm 
confidence  in  the  King,  our  common  head  and  father;  that  the 
united  and  dutiful  supplications  of  his  distressed  American  sub 
jects,  will  meet  with  his  royal  and  favorable  acceptance. 


No.  40.     Boston  Port  Act 

March  31,   1774 

BY  the  Townshend  Revenue  Act  [No.  38],  a  duty  of  $d.  per  pound  was 
imposed  upon  tea  imported  into  the  American  colonies  from  Great  Britain ; 
but  by  the  Tea  Act  of  the  same  year  the  inland  duty  of  is.  per  pound  was  taken 
off  for  five  years,  and  a  drawback  allowed,  on  tea  exported  to  America,  of  the 
entire  customs  duty  payable  on  its  importation  into  England.  The  duties 
imposed  by  the  Revenue  Act,  except  that  on  tea,  were  repealed  in  1770.  But 
the  colonies  would  not  buy  tea  shipped  from  England,  and  most  of  the  tea 
consumed  in  America  was  smuggled  in  through  the  agency  of  the  Dutch  East 
India  Company.  To  relieve  the  British  East  India  Company  from  certain 
financial  difficulties,  an  act  was  passed  in  May,  1773,  again  allowing  a  draw 
back  of  the  duties  payable  on  importation  into  England,  in  case  the  tea  was 
shipped  to  America;  the  tax  of  3<f.  per  pound,  however,  still  remaining  as  an 
assertion  of  the  principle  of  the  Declaratory  Act  of  1766  [No.  36].  Upon  the 
passage  of  the  act  of  1773,  large  quantities  of  tea  were  sent  to  America,  but 


I774]  BOSTON   PORT  ACT  151 

the  importation  was  generally  resisted.  The  most  violent  opposition  was 
manifested  in  Boston,  where,  on  the  night  of  Dec.  16,  the  ships  laden  with  tea 
were  boarded  by  citizens  disguised  as  Indians,  and  the  tea  thrown  into  the 
harbor. 

Papers  relating  to  the  disturbances  in  America,  and  especially  the  proceed 
ings  at  Boston,  were  laid  before  Parliament  March  7,  1774,  accompanied  by  a 
royal  message  urging  the  adoption  of  measures  to  end  the  disorder  and  secure 
obedience  to  the  laws.  On  the  i4th  Lord  North,  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
asked  and  obtained  leave  to  bring  in  a  bill  to  remove  the  custom  house  officers 
from  Boston,  and  to  close  that  port  to  commerce.  A  petition  from  William 
Bollan,  agent  for  Massachusetts,  praying  to  be  heard  in  behalf  of  that  colony, 
was  laid  on  the  table.  The  bill  was  brought  in  on  the  iSth,  had  its  second 
reading  on  the  2ist,  and  passed  on  the  25th  without  a  division.  It  was  taken 
up  to  the  Lords  the  following  day,  and  passed  that  House,  without  a  division, 
on  the  30th.  March  31  the  act  received  the  royal  assent.  The  petition  of 
Bollan  was  finally  rejected  by  the  Commons  on  the  25th,  by  a  vote  of  40  to 
170;  but  he  was  heard  in  the  Lords  on  the  30th,  before  the  final  vote  on  the 
bill.  The  act  was  repealed  by  the  prohibitory  act  of  Dec.  22,  1775. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Pickering's  Statutes  at  Large,  XXX.,  336-341. 
The  act  is  cited  as  14  Geo.  III.,  c.  19.  For  the  debates  in  Parliament,  see 
the  Parliamentary  History,  XVII.,  or  Force's  American  Archives,  Fourth 
Series,  I.,  5-61;  cf.  also  the  Annual  Register  (1774).  The  report  of  the 
committee  of  the  Lords  on  the  disturbances  in  Massachusetts  is  in  Force,  and 
also  in  Almon's  Prior  Documents,  232-255.  Franklin's  True  State  of  the 
Proceedings,  etc.  (Works,  Sparks's  ed.,  IV.,  466-515),  is  a  skilful  counter- 
presentation. 

An  act  to  discontinue,  in  such  manner,  and  for  such  time  as  are 
therein  mentioned,  the  landing  and  discharging,  lading  or  ship 
ping,  of  goods,  wares,  and  merchandise,  at  the  town,  and  within 
the  harbour,  of  Boston,  in  the  province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  in 
North  America. 

WHEREAS  dangerous  commotions  and  insurrections  have  been 
fomented  and  raised  in  the  town  of  Boston,  in  the  province  0/Massa- 
chuset's  Bay,  in  New  England,  by  divers  ill-affected  persons,  to 
the  subversion  of  his  Majesty's  government,  and  to  the  utter  de 
struction  of  the  publick  peace,  and  good  order  of  the  said  town;  in 
which  commotions  and  insurrections  certain  valuable  cargoes  oj 
teas,  being  the  property  of  the  East  India  Company,  and  on  board 
certain  vessels  lying  within  the  bay  or  harbour  of  Boston,  were 
seized  and  destroyed:  And  whereas,  in  the  present  condition  of  the 
said  town  and  harbour,  the  commerce  of  his  Majesty's  subjects 
cannot  be  safely  carried  on  there,  nor  the  customs  payable  to  his 


152  BOSTON   PORT   ACT  [March  3 j 

Majesty  duly  collected;  and  it  is  therefore  expedient  that  the  officers 
of  his  Majesty's  customs  should  be  forthwith  removed  from  the  said 
town:  .  .  .  be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  from  and  after  .  .  .  [June 
i,  1774,]  .  .  .  it  shall  not  be  lawful  for  any  person  or  persons 
whatsoever  to  lade,  put,  or  cause  or  procure  to  be  laden  or  put,  off 
or  from  any  quay,  wharf,  or  other  place,  within  the  said  town  of 
Boston,  or  in  or  upon  any  part  of  the  shore  of  the  bay,  commonly 
called  The  Harbour  of  Boston,  between  a  certain  headland  or  point 
called  Nahant  Point,  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  entrance  into  the 
said  bay,  and  a  certain  other  headland  or  point  called  A Iderton 
Point,  on  the  western  side  of  the  entrance  into  the  said  bay,  or  in 
or  upon  any  island,  creek,  landing-place,  bank,  or  other  place, 
within  the  said  bay  or  headlands,  into  any  ship,  vessel,  lighter, 
boat,  or  bottom,  any  goods,  wares,  or  merchandise  whatsoever,  to 
be  transported  or  carried  into  any  other  country,  province,  or 
place  whatsoever,  or  into  any  other  part  of  the  said  province 
of  the  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  New  England;  or  to  take  up,  dis 
charge,  or  lay  on  land,  or  cause  or  procure  to  be  taken  up,  dis 
charged,  or  laid  on  land,  within  the  said  town,  or  in  or  upon  any 
of  the  places  aforesaid,  out  of  any  boat,  lighter,  ship,  vessel,  or 
bottom,  any  goods,  wares,  or  merchandise  whatsoever,  to  be 
brought  from  any  other  country,  province,  or  place,  or  any  other 
part  of  the  said  province  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  in  New  Eng 
land,  upon  pain  of  the  forfeiture  of  the  said  goods,  wares,  and 
merchandise,  and  of  the  said  boat,  lighter,  ship,  vessel,  or  other 
bottom  into  which  the  same  shall  be  put,  or  out  of  which  the  same 
shall  be  taken,  and  of  the  guns,  ammunition,  tackle,  furniture,  and 
stores,  in  or  belonging  to  the  same :  And  if  any  such  goods,  wares, 
or  merchandise,  shall,  within  the  said  town,  or  in  any  the  places 
aforesaid,  be  laden  or  taken  in  from  the  shore  into  any  barge, 
hoy,  lighter,  wherry,  or  boat,  to  be  carried  on  board  any  ship  or 
vessel  outward-bound  to  any  other  country  or  province,  or  other 
part  of  the  said  province  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  in  New  Eng 
land,  or  be  laden  or  taken  into  such  barge,  hoy,  lighter,  wherry 
or  boat,  from  or  out  of  any  ship  or  vessel  coming  in  and  arriving 
from  any  other  country  or  province,  or  other  part  of  the  said  prov 
ince  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  in  New  England,  such  barge, 
hoy,  lighter,  wherry,  or  boat,  shall  be  forfeited  and  lost. 


1 7 74]  BOSTON   PORT   ACT  153 

III.  And  be  it  further  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  if  any  ship  or  vessel 
shall  be  moored  or  lie  at  anchor,  or  be  seen  hovering  within  the 
said  bay,  described  and  bounded  as  aforesaid,  or  within  one 
league  from  the  said  bay  so  described,  or  the  said  headlands,  or 
any  of  the  islands  lying  between  or  within  the  same,  it  shall  and 
may  be  lawful  for  any  admiral,  chief  commander,  or  commis 
sioned  officer,  of  his  Majesty ?:<  fleet  or  ships  of  war,  or  for  any 
officer  of  his  Majesty's  customs,  to  compel  such  ship  or  vessel  to 
depart  to  some  other  port  or  harbour,  or  to  such  station  as  the 
said  officer  shall  appoint,  and  to  use  such  force  for  that  purpose 
as  shall  be  found  necessary:   And  if  such  ship  or  vessel  shall  not 
depart  accordingly,  within  six  hours  after  notice  for  that  purpose 
given  by  such  person  as  aforesaid,  such  ship  or  vessel,  together 
with  all  the  goods  laden  on  board  thereon,  and  all  the  guns,  am 
munition,  tackle,  and  furniture,  shall  be  forfeited  and  lost,  whether 
bulk  shall  have  been  broken  or  not. 

IV.  Provided  always,  That  nothing  in  this  act  contained  shall 
extend,  or  be  construed  to  extend,  to  any  military  or  other  stores 
for  his  Majesty's  use,  or  to  the  ships  or  vessels  whereon  the  same 
shall  be  laden  .  .  .   ;  nor  to  any  fuel  or  victual  brought  coastwise 
from  any  part  of  the  continent  of  America,  for  the  necessary  use 
and  sustenance  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  said  town  of  Boston,  pro 
vided  the  vessel  wherein  the  same  are  to  be  carried  shall  be  duly 
furnished  with  a  cocket  and  let-pass,  after  having  been  duly  searched 
by  the  proper  officers  of  his  Majesty's  customs  at  Marblehead,  in  the 
port  of  Salem,  in  the  said  province  of  Massachusetts  Bay  .  .  .   ; 
nor  to  any  ships  or  vessels  which  may  happen  to  fce  within  the  said 
harbour  of  Boston  on  or  before  .  .  .  [June   i,   1774,]  .  .  .  and 
may  have  either  laden  or  taken  on  board,  or  be  there  with  intent  to 
load  or  take  on  board,  or  to  land  or  discharge  any  goods,  wares, 
and  merchandise,  provided  the  said  ships  and  vessels  do  depart 
the  said  harbour  within  fourteen  days  after  the  said  .   .  .  [June  i, 
1774].  .  .  . 

******** 
VIII.  And  be  it  further  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  whenever  it  shall 
be  made  to  appear  to  his  Majesty,  in  his  privy  council,  that  peace 
and  obedience  to  the  laws  shall  be  so  far  restored  in  the  said  town 
of  Boston,  that  the  trade  of  Great  Britain  may  safely  be  carried 
on  there,  and  his  Majesty's  customs  duly  collected,  and  his  Majesty, 


154  BOSTON   PORT   ACT  [March  3, 

in  his  privy  council,  shall  adjudge  the  same  to  be  true,  it  shall  and 
may  be  lawful  for  his  Majesty,  by  proclamation,  or  order  of  coun 
cil,  to  assign  and  appoint  the  extent,  bounds,  and  limits,  of  the  port 
or  harbour  of  Boston,  and  of  every  creek  or  haven  within  the  same, 
or  in  the  islands  within  the  precincts  thereof;  and  also  to  assign 
and  appoint  such  and  so  many  open  places,  quays,  and  wharfs, 
within  the  said  harbour,  creeks,  havens,  and  islands,  for  the  landing, 
discharging,  lading,  and  shipping  of  goods,  as  his  Majesty  .  .  . 
shall  judge  necessary  and  expedient;  and  also  to  appoint  such  and 
so  many  officers  of  the  customs  therein  as  his  Majesty  shall  think 
fit ;  after  which  it  shall  be  lawful  for  any  person  or  persons  to  lade 
or  put  off  from,  or  to  discharge  and  land  upon,  such  wharfs,  quays, 
and  places,  so  appointed  within  the  said  harbour,  and  none  other, 
any  goods,  wares,  and  merchandise  whatever. 

******** 

X.  Provided  also,  and  it  is  hereby  declared  and  enacted,  That 
nothing  herein  contained  shall  extend,  or  be  construed,  to  enable 
his  Majesty  to  appoint  such  port,  harbour,  creeks,  quays,  wharfs, 
places,  or  officers,  in  the  said  town  of  Boston,  or  in  the  said  bay  or 
islands,  until  it  shall  sufficiently  appear  to  his  Majesty  that  full 
satisfaction  hath  been  made  by  or  on  behalf  of  the  inhabitants  of 
the  said  town  of  Boston  to  the  united  company  of  merchants  of 
England  trading  to  the  East  Indies,  for  the  damage  sustained  by 
the  said  company  by  the  destruction  of  their  goods  sent  to  the 
said  town  of  Boston,  on  board  certain  ships  or  vessels  as  aforesaid ; 
and  until  it  shall  be  certified  to  his  Majesty,  in  council,  by  the 
governor,  or  lieutenant  governor,  of  the  said  province,  that  reason 
able  satisfaction  hath  been  made  to  the  officers  of  his  Majesty's 
revenue,  and  others,  who  suffered  by  the  riots  and  insurrections 
above  mentioned,  in  the  months  of  November  and  December,  in 
the  year  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-three,  and  in 
the  month  of  January,  in  the  year  one  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  seventy-four. 


1774]  MASSACHUSETTS    GOVERNMENT  ACT  155 


No.  41.     Massachusetts  Government  Act 

May  20,   1774 

MARCH  28, 1774,  Lord  Nor.'i  moved  in  the  House  of  Commons  for  leave  to 
bring  in  a  bill  "for  the  better  regulating  the  government  of  the  Province  o.f 
Massachusetts  Bay."  Leave  was  given,  and  April  15  the  bill  was  presented. 
The  bill  had  its  second  reading  on  the  22(1,  and  May  2,  after  spirited  debate, 
was  ordered  to  its  third  reading  by  a  vote  of  239  to  64,  and  passed.  A  peti 
tion  from  Bollan,  April  28,  for  delay  until  he  could  hear  from  Massachusetts, 
was  refused,  the  vote  being  32  to  95.  The  bill  had  its  second  reading  in  the 
Lords  May  6;  on  the  nth,  by  a  vote  oZ  92  to  20,  the  third  reading  was 
ordered,  and  the  bill,  with  some  amendments,  passed.  Eleven  Lords  en 
tered  a  protest  against  the  bill.  On  the  i3th  the  Commons  agreed  to  the 
amendments  of  the  Lords,  and  on  the  2oth  the  act  received  the  royal  assent. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Pickering's  Statutes  at  Large,  XXX.,  381-390. 
The  act  is  cited  as  14  Geo.  III.,  c.  45.  For  the  debates,  see  the  Parliamen 
tary  History,  XVIL,  or  Force's  American  Archives,  Fourth  Series,  I., 
66-104;  see  also  the  Annual  Register  (1774). 

An  act  for  the  better  regulating  the  government  of  the  province  of 

the  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  New  England. 

[The  act  recites  the  provision  of  the  charter  regarding  the  elec 
tion  of  councillors,  and  continues:] 

And  whereas  the  said  method  of  electing  such  counsellors  or  assist 
ants,  to  be  vested  with  the  several  powers,  authorities,  and  privileges, 
therein  mentioned,  although  conformable  to  the  practice  theretofore 
used  in  such  of  the  colonies  thereby  united,  in  which  the  appointment 
of  the  respective  governors  had  been  vested  in  the  general  courts  or 
assemblies  of  the  said  colonies,  hath,  by  repeated  experience,  been 
found  to  be  extremely  ill  adapted  to  the  plan  of  government  estab 
lished  in  the  province  of  the  Massachuset's  Bay  .  .  .  ,  and  hath 
been  so  far  from  contributing  to  the  attainment  of  the  good  ends  and 
purposes  thereby  intended,  and  to  the  promoting  of  the  internal  wel 
fare,  peace,  and  good  government,  of  the  said  province,  or  to  the 
maintenance  of  the  just  subordination  to,  and  conformity  with,  the 
laws  of  Great  Britain,  that  the  manner  of  exercising  the  powers, 
authorities,  and  privileges  aforesaid,  by  the  persons  so  annually 
elected,  hath,  for  some  time  past,  been  such  as  had  the  most  manifest 
tendency  to  obstruct,  and,  in  great  measure,  defeat,  the  execution  of 
the  laws;  to  weaken  the  attachment  of  his  Majesty's  well-disposed 


156  MASSACHUSETTS    GOVERNMENT  ACT  [May  20 

subjects  in  the  said  province  to  his  Majesty's  government,  and  to 
encourage  the  ill-disposed  among  them  to  proceed  even  to  acts  oj 
direct  resistance  to,  and  defiance  of,  his  Majesty's  authority:  And 
it  hath  accordingly  happened,  that  an  open  resistance  to  the  execu 
tion  of  the  laws  hath  actually  taken  place  in  the  town  of  Boston,  and 
the  neighbourhood  thereof,  within  the  said  Province:  And  whereas 
it  is,  under  these  circumstances,  become  absolutely  necessary,  in 
order  to  the  preservation  of  the  peace  and  good  order  of  the  said 
province,  the  protection  of  his  Majesty's  well-disposed  subjects 
therein  resident,  the  continuance  of  the  mutual  benefits  arising  from 
the  commerce  and  correspondence  between  this  kingdom  and  the  said 
province,  and  the  maintaining  of  the  just  dependence  of  the  said 
province  upon  the  crown  and  parliament  of  Great  Britain,  that  the 
said  method  of  annually  electing  the  counsellors  or  assistants  of  the 
said  Province  should  no  longer  be  suffered  to  continue,  but  that  the 
appointment  of  the  said  counsellors  or  assistants  should  henceforth  be 
put  upon  the  like  footing  as  is  established  in  such  other  of  his  Maj 
esty's  colonies  or  plantations  in  America,  the  governors  whereof  are 
appointed  by  his  Majesty's  commission,  under  the  great  seal  oj 
Great  Britain :  Be  it  therefore  enacted  .  .  .  ,  that  from  and  after 
.  .  .  [August  i,  1774,]  ...  so  much  of  the  charter  ...  [of 
1691]  .  .  .  and  all  and  every  clause,  matter,  and  thing,  therein 
contained,  which  relates  to  the  time  and  manner  of  electing  the 
assistants  or  counsellors  for  the  said  province,  be  revoked,  and  is 
hereby  revoked  and  made  void  and  of  none  effect;  and  that  the 
offices  of  all  counsellors  and  assistants,  elected  and  appointed  in 
pursuance  thereof,  shall  from  thenceforth  cease  and  determine: 
And  that,  from  and  after  the  said  .  .  .  [August  i,  1774,]  •  •  • 
the  council,  or  court  of  assistants  of  the  said  province  for  the  time 
being,  shall  be  composed  of  such  of  the  inhabitants  or  proprietors 
of  lands  within  the  same  as  shall  be  thereunto  nominated  and 
appointed  by  his  Majesty  .  .  .  ,  from  time  to  time,  by  warrant 
under  his  or  their  signet  or  sign  manual,  and  with  the  advice  of 
the  privy  council,  agreeable  to  the  practice  now  used  in  respect  to 
the  appointment  of  counsellors  in  such  of  his  Majesty's  other 
colonies  in  A  merica,  the  governors  whereof  are  appointed  by  com 
mission  under  the  great  seal  of  Great  Britain:  provided,  that  the 
number  of  the  said  assistants  or  counsellors  shall  not,  at  any  one 
time,  exceed  thirty-six,  nor  be  less  than  twelve. 


1774]  MASSACHUSETTS    GOVERNMENT  ACT  157 

II.  And  it  is  hereby  further  enacted,  That  the  said  assistants 
or  counsellors,  so  to  be  appointed  as  aforesaid,  shall  hold  their 
offices  respectively,  for  and  during  the  pleasure  of  his  Majesty  .  .  .  ; 
and  shall  have  and  enjoy  all  the  powers,  privileges,  and  immunities, 
at  present  held,  exercised,  and  enjcyed,  by  the  assistants  or  coun 
sellors  of  the  said  province,  constituted  and  elected,  from  time  to 
time,  under  the  said  charter  (except  as  herein-after  excepted)  .  .  . 

III.  And  be  it  further  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  from  and  after  .  .  , 
[July  i,  1774,]  ...  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  his  Majesty's 
governor  for  the  time  being  of  the  said  province,  or,  in  his  absence, 
for  the  lieutenant-governor,  to  nominate  and  appoint,  under  the 
seal  of  the  province,  from  time  to  time,  and  also  to  remove,  without 
the  consent  of  the  council,  all  judges  of  the  inferior  courts  of  com 
mon  pleas,  commissioners  of  Oyer  and  Terminer,  the  attorney 
general,  provosts,  marshals,  justices  af  the  peace,  and  other  officers 
to  the  council  or  courts  of  justice  belonging;    and  that  all  .  .  . 
[the  said  officers]  .  .  .  ,  and  other  officers  so  appointed  .  .  .  , 
shall  and  may  have,  hold,  and  exercise,  their  said  offices,  powers, 
and  authorities,  as  fully  and  completely,  to  all  intents  and  pur 
poses,  as  any  judges  of  the  inferior  courts  of  common  pleas,  com 
missioners   of   Oyer  and    Terminer,   attorney   general,   provosts, 
marshals,  or  other  officers,  have  or  might  have  done  heretofore 
under  the  said  letters  patent  .  .  . 

IV.  [Provided,  that  the  foregoing  shall  not  be  construed  to 
annul  any  commission  granted  prior  to  July  i,  1774.] 

V.  And  be  it  further  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That,  from  and  after  .  .  . 
[July  i,  1774]  .  .  .  ,  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  his  Majesty's 
governor,  or,  in  his  absence,  for  the  lieutenant-governor  .  .  .  , 
to  nominate  and  appoint  the  sheriffs  without  the  consent  of  the 
council,  and  to  remove  such  sheriffs  with  such  consent,  and  not 
otherwise. 

VI.  And  be  it  further  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That,  upon  every  vacancy 
of  the  offices  of  chief  justice  and  judges  of  the  superior  court  of 
the  said  province,  from  and  after  .  .  .  [July  i,  1774]  .  .  .  ,  the 
governor  for  the  time  being,  or,  in  his  absence,  the  lieutenant- 
governor,  without  the  consent  of  the  council,  shall  have  full  power 
and  authority  to  nominate  and  appoint  the  persons  to  succeed  to 
the  said  offices,   who  shall   hold  their  commissions  during  the 
pleasure  of  his  Majesty  .  .  .   ;   and  that  neither  the  chief  justice 


158  MASSACHUSETTS   GOVERNMENT  ACT  [May  20 

or  judges  appointed  before  .  .  .  [July  i,  1774]  .  .  .  ,  nor  those 
who  shall  hereafter  be  appointed  pursuant  to  this  act,  shall  be 
removed,  unless  by  the  order  of  his  Majesty.  .  .  . 

VII.  And  whereas,  by  several  acts  of  the  general  court,  which 
have  been  from  time  to  time  enacted  and  passed  within  the  said 
province,  the  freeholders  and  inhabitants  of  the  several  townships, 
districts,  and  precincts,  qualified,  as  is  therein  expressed,  are  author 
ized  to  assemble  together,  annually,  or  occasionally,  upon  notice 
given,  in  such  manner  as  the  said  acts  direct,  for  the  choice  of  select 
men,  constables,  and  other  officers,  and  for  the  making  and  agreeing 
upon  such  necessary  rules,  orders,  and  bye-laws,  for  the  directing, 
managing,  and  ordering,  the  prudential  affairs  of  such  townships, 
districts,  and  precincts,  and  for  other  purposes :  and  whereas  a  great 
abuse  has  been  made  of  the  power  of  calling  such  meetings,  and  the 
inhabitants  have,  contrary  to  the  design  of  their  institution,  been 
misled  to  treat  upon  matters  of  the  most  general  concern,  and  to  pass 
many  dangerous  and  unwarrantable  resolves:  for  remedy  whereof, 
be  it  enacted,  that  from  and  after  .  .  .  [August  i,  1774,]  .  .  . 
no  meeting  shall  be  called  by  the  select  men,  or  at  the  request  of 
any  number  of  freeholders  of  any  township,  district,  or  precinct, 
without  the  leave  of  the  governor,  or,  in  his  absence,  of  the  lieutenant- 
governor,  in  writing,  expressing  the  special  business  of  the  said 
meeting,  first  had  and  obtained,  except  the  annual  meeting  in  the 
months  of  March  or  May,  for  the  choice  of  select  men,  constables, 
and  other  officers,  or  except  for  the  choice  of  persons  to  fill  up  the 
offices  aforesaid,  on  the  death  or  removal  of  any  of  the  persons 
first  elected  to  such  offices,  and  also,  except  any  meeting  for  the 
election  of  a  representative  or  representatives  in  the  general  court ; 
and  that  no  other  matter  shall  be  treated  of  at  such  meetings,  except 
the  election  of  their  aforesaid  officers  or  representatives,  nor  at  any 
other  meeting,  except  the  business  expressed  in  the  leave  given 
by  the  governor,  or,  in  his  absence,  by  the  lieutenant-governor. 

VIII.  And  whereas  the  method  at  present  used  in  the  province 
of  Massachuset's  Bay,  in  America,  of  electing  persons  to  serve  on 
grand  juries,  and  other  juries,  by  the  freeholders  and  inhabitants 
of  the  several  towns,  affords  occasion  for  many  evil  practices,  and 
tends  to  pervert  the  free  and  impartial  administration  of  justice: 
for  remedy  whereof,  be  it  further  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  from  and 
after  the  respective  times  appointed  for  the  holding  of  the  general 


1774]  ADMINISTRATION   OF  JUSTICE  ACT  159 

sessions  of  the  peace  in  the  several  counties  within  the  said  prov 
ince,  next  after  .  .  .  [September,  1774,]  .  .  .  the  jurors  to  serve 
at  the  superior  courts  of  judicature,  courts  of  assize,  general  gaol 
delivery,  general  sessions  of  the  peace,  and  inferior  court  of  com 
mon  pleas,  in  the  several  counties  within  the  said  province,  shall 
not  be  elected,  nominated,  or  appointed,  by  the  freeholders  and 
inhabitants  of  the  several  towns  within  the  said  respective  counties, 
nor  summoned  or  returned  by  the  constables  of  the  said  towns ;  but 
that,  from  thenceforth,  the  jurors  to  serve  at  ...  [the  said  courts] 
.  .  .  shall  be  summoned  and  returned  by  the  sheriffs  of  the  re 
spective  counties  within  the  said  province  .  .  . 


No.  42.     Administration  of  Justice  Act 

May  20,  1774 

APRIL  15,  1774,  the  bill  for  regulating  the  government  of  Massachusetts 
having  been  presented  in  the  House  of  Commons,  Lord  North  moved  for 
leave  to  bring  in,  "as  the  last  measure  that  Parliament  will  take,"  a  bill  "for 
the  impartial  administration  of  justice,  in  the  cases  of  persons  questioned  for 
any  acts  done  by  them  in  the  execution  of  the  laws,  or  for  the  suppression  of 
the  riots  and  tumults,"  in  the  Massachusetts  colony.  Leave  being  given  the 
bill  was  brought  in  on  the  2ist,  had  its  second  reading  on  the  25th,  and  May  6 
passed,  by  a  vote  of  127  to  24.  On  the  gth  it  was  carried  up  to  the  Lords, 
where  it  was  read  a  second  time  on  the  i3th,  and  on  the  i8th  passed,  the 
vote  being  43  to  12,  Eight  members  of  the  Lords  entered  a  protest  against 
the  bill.  May  20  the  act  received  the  royal  assent.  Throughout  the  debate 
the  attendance  in  each  house  was  small. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Pickering's  Statutes  at  Large,  XXX.,  367-371. 
The  act  is  cited  as  14  Geo.  III.,  c.  39.  The  debates  are  in  the  Parliamen 
tary  History,  XVII.,  and  Force's  American  Archives,  Fourth  Series,  I., 
111-129;  see  also  the  Annual  Register  (1774). 

An  act  for  the  impartial  administration  of  justice  in  the  cases  of 
persons  questioned  for  any  acts  done  by  them  in  the  execution  of 
the  law,  or  for  the  suppression  of  riots  and  tumults,  in  the  prov 
ince  of  the  Massachuset's  Bay,  in  New  England. 

WHEREAS  in  his  Majesty's  province  of  Massachuset's  Bay,  in 
New  England,  an  attempt  hath  lately  been  made  to  throw  off  the 
authority  of  the  parliament  of  Great  Britain  over  the  said  province^ 


160  ADMINISTRATION   OF  JUSTICE  ACT  [May  20 

and  an  actual  and  avowed  resistance,  by  open  force,  to  the  execu 
tion  of  certain  acts  of  parliament,  hath  been  suffered  to  take  place, 
uncontrouled  and  unpunished,  in  defiance  of  his  Majesty's  author 
ity,  and  to  the  utter  subversion  of  all  lawful  government:  and 
whereas,  in  the  present  disordered  state  of  the  said  province,  it  is 
of  the  utmost  importance  to  the  general  welfare  thereof,  and  to  the 
re-establishment  of  lawful  authority  throughout  the  same,  that 
neither  the  magistrates  acting  in  support  of  the  laws,  nor  any  oj 
his  Majesty 's  subjects  aiding  and  assisting  them  therein,  or  in  the 
suppression  of  riots  and  tumults,  raised  in  opposition  to  the  execu 
tion  of  the  laws  and  statutes  of  this  realm,  should  be  discouraged 
from  the  proper  discharge  of  their  duty,  by  an  apprehension,  that 
in  case  of  their  being  questioned  for  any  acts  done  therein,  they  may 
be  liable  to  be  brought  to  trial  for  the  same  before  persons  who  do 
not  acknowledge  the  validity  of  the  laws,  in  the  execution  thereof, 
or  the  authority  of  the  magistrate  in  support  of  whom,  such  acts 
had  been  done:  in  order  therefore  to  remove  every  such  discourage 
ment  from  the  minds  of  his  Majesty's  subjects,  and  to  induce  them, 
upon  all  proper  occasions,  to  exert  themselves  in  support  of  the 
public  peace  of  the  province,  and  of  the  authority  of  the  King  and 
Parliament  of  Great  Britain  over  the  same;  be  it  enacted  .  .  .  , 
That  if  any  inquisition  or  indictment  shall  be  found,  or  if  any 
appeal  shall  be  sued  or  preferred  against  any  person,  for  murther, 
or  other  capital  offence,  in  the  province  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay, 
and  it  shall  appear,  by  information  given  upon  oath  to  the  gover 
nor  ...  [or  lieutenant  governor]  ...  of  the  said  province,  that  the 
fact  was  committed  by  the  person  against  whom  such  inquisition 
or  indictment  shall  be  found,  or  against  whom  such  appeal  shall 
be  sued  or  preferred,  as  aforesaid,  either  in  the  execution  of  his 
duty  as  a  magistrate,  for  the  suppression  of  riots,  or  in  the  support 
of  the  laws  of  revenue,  or  in  acting  in  his  duty  as  an  officer  of 
revenue,  or  in  acting  under  the  direction  and  order  of  any  magis 
trate,  for  the  suppression  of  riots,  or  for  the  carrying  into  effect 
the  laws  of  revenue,  or  in  aiding  and  assisting  in  any  of  the  cases 
aforesaid ;  and  if  it  shall  also  appear,  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  said 
governor  .  .  .  that  an  indifferent  trial  cannot  be  had  within  the 
said  province,  in  that  case,  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  the  gov 
ernor  .  .  ,  to  direct,  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  council, 
that  the  inquisition,  indictment,  or  appeal,  shall  be  tried  in  some 


1774]  ADMINISTRATION   OF  JUSTICE  ACT  161 

other  of  his  Majesty's  colonies,  or  in  Great  Britain;  and  for  that 
purpose,  to  order  the  person  against  whom  such  inquisition  or  in 
dictment  shall  be  found,  or  against  whom  such  appeal  shall  be 
sued  or  preferred,  as  aforesaid,  to  be  sent,  under  sufficient  custody, 
to  the  place  appointed  for  his  trial,  or  to  admit  such  person  to 
bail,  taking  a  recognizance  .  .  .  from  such  person,  with  sufficient 
sureties,  to  be  approved  of  by  the  said  governor  .  .  .  ,  in  such 
sums  of  money  as  the  said  governor  .  .  .  shall  deem  reasonable, 
for  the  personal  appearance  of  such  person,  if  the  trial  shall  be 
appointed  to  be  had  in  any  other  colony,  before  the  governor,  or 
lieutenant-governor,  or  commander  in  chief  of  such  colony;  and 
if  the  trial  shall  be  appointed  to  be  had  in  Great  Britain,  then  before 
his  Majesty's  court  of  King's  Bench,  at  a  time  to  be  mentioned  in 
such  recognizances;  and  the  governor,  or  lieutenant-governor, 
or  commander  in  chief  of  the  colony  where  such  trial  shall  be  ap 
pointed  to  be  had,  or  court  of  King's  Bench,  where  the  trial  is 
appointed  be  had  in  Great  Britain,  upon  the  appearance  of  such 
person,  according  to  such  recognizance,  or  in  custody,  shall  either 
commit  such  person,  or  admit  him  to  bail,  until  such  trial  .  .  . 

II.  And,  to  prevent  a  failure  of  justice,  from  the  want  of  evi 
dence  on  the  trial  of  any  such  inquisition,  indictment  or  appeal, 
be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  governor  ...  is  hereby  authorised 
and  required,  to  bind  in  recognizances  to  his  Majesty  all  such  wit 
nesses  as  the  prosecutor  or  person  against  \vhom  such  inquisition  or 
indictment  shall  be  found,  or  appeal  sued  or  preferred,  shall  desire 
to  attend  the  trial  of  the  said  inquisition,  indictment,  or  appeal, 
for  their  personal  appearance,  at  the  time  and  place  of  such  trial, 
to  give  evidence:  and  the  said  governor  .  .  .  shall  thereupon 
appoint  a  reasonable  sum  to  be  allowed  for  the  expences  of  every 
such  witness  .  .  . 

******** 

V.  And  be  it  further  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  where  it  shall  be 
made  appear  to  the  judges  or  justices  of  any  court,  within  the 
said  province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  by  any  person  [charged  with 
crimes  as  aforesaid],  that  he  intends  to  make  application  to  the 
governor  .  .  .  that  such  inquisition,  indictment,  or  appeal,  may  be 
tried  in  some  other  of  his  Majesty's  colonies,  or  in  Great  Britain,  the 
said  judges  or  justices  are  hereby  authorised  and  required  to  ad 
journ  or  postpone  the  trial  of  such  inquisition,  indictment,  or  appeal, 


1 62  DECLARATION   AND    RESOLVES  [October  14 

for  a  reasonable  time,  and  admit  the  person  to  bail,  in  order  that  he 
may  make  application  to  the  governor  .  .  .  for  the  purpose  afore 
said. 

******** 


No.  43.      Declaration   and   Resolves   of  the 
First  Continental  Congress 

October  14,   1774 

JUNE  17,  1774,  the  Massachusetts  House  of  Representatives,  under  the 
leadership  of  Samuel  Adams,  resolved :  "That  a  meeting  of  committees  from 
the  several  colonies  on  this  continent  is  highly  expedient  and  necessary,  to 
consult  upon  the  present  state  of  the  colonies,  and  the  miseries  to  which  they 
are  and  must  be  reduced  by  the  operation  of  certain  acts  of  Parliament  re 
specting  America,  and  to  deliberate  and  determine  upon  wise  and  proper 
measures,  to  be  by  them  recommended  to  all  the  colonies,  for  the  recovery 
and  establishment  of  their  just  rights  and  liberties,  civil  and  religious,  and  the 
restoration  of  union  and  harmony  between  Great  Britain  and  the  colonies, 
most  ardently  desired  by  all  good  men:  Therefore,  resolved,  that  the  Hon. 
James  Bowdoin,  Esq.,  the  Hon.  Thomas  Gushing,  Esq.,  Mr.  Samuel  Adams, 
John  Adams  and  Robert  Treat  Paine,  Esqrs.,  be,  and  they  are  hereby  ap 
pointed  a  committee  on  the  part  of  this  province,  for  the  purposes  aforesaid, 
any  three  of  whom  to  be  a  quorum,  to  meet  such  committees  or  delegates 
from  the  other  colonies  as  have  been  or  may  be  appointed,  either  by  their 
respective  houses  of  burgesses  or  representatives,  or  by  convention,  or  by  the 
committees  of  correspondence  appointed  by  the  respective  houses  of  assembly, 
in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  or  any  other  place  that  shall  be  judged  most  suit 
able  by  the  committee,  on  the  ist  day  of  September  next;  and  that  the  speaker 
of  the  house  be  directed,  in  a  letter  to  the  speakers  of  the  houses  of  burgesses 
or  representatives  in  the  several  colonies,  to  inform  them  of  the  substance  of 
these  resolves." 

In  accordance  with  this  call,  delegates  from  all  the  colonies  except  North 
Carolina  and  Georgia  met  at  Philadelphia  September  5 ;  representatives  from 
North  Carolina  appearing  on  the  i4th.  On  the  7th,  a  committee  of  two  from 
each  colony  was  appointed  "to  state  the  rights  of  the  colonies  in  general,  the 
several  instances  in  which  those  rights  are  violated  or  infringed,  and  the 
means  most  proper  to  be  pursued  for  obtaining  a  restoration  cf  them."  A 
report  under  this  resolution  was  brought  in  on  the  22d,  and  read.  On  the 
24th,  however,  it  was  voted  "that  the  Congress  do  confine  themselves,  at 
present,  to  the  consideration  of  such  rights  as  have  been  infringed  by  acts  of 
the  British  Parliament  since  the  year  1763."  A  report  in  accordance  with 
this  vote  being  brought  in  and  read,  further  consideration  was  postponed 


1774]  DECLARATION  AND    RESOLVES  163 

while  the  Congress  deliberated  "on  the  means  most  proper  to  be  used  for  a 
restoration"  of  colonial  rights.  The  report  on  the  rights  and  grievances  of 
the  colonies  was  finally  taken  up  October  12,  and  on  the  i4th  agreed  to  in 
the  form  following. 

REFERENCES. — •  Text  in  Journals  of  Congress  (ed.  1800),  I.,  26-30;  see 
also  Ford's  ed.,  I.  The  record  of  proceedings  in  the  journal  is  meagre;  for 
additional  details  see  Frothingham's  Rise  of  the  Republic,  331-391;  John 
Adams's  diary,  in  his  Works,  II.,  340-404;  and  lives  and  works  of  members 
of  the  Congress.  The  instructions  to  the  Virginia  delegates,  in  Jefferson's 
Writings  (ed.  1830),  I.,  100-116,  are  especially  significant. 

Whereas,  since  the  close  of  the  last  war,  the  British  parlia 
ment,  claiming  a  power,  of  right,  to  bind  the  people  of  America  by 
statutes  in  all  cases  whatsoever,  hath,  in  some  acts,  expressly 
imposed  taxes  on  them,  and  in  others,  under  various  pretences, 
but  in  fact  for  the  purpose  of  raising  a  revenue,  hath  imposed 
rates  and  duties  payable  in  these  colonies,  established  a  board  of 
commissioners,  with  unconstitutional  powers,  and  extended  the 
jurisdiction  of  courts  of  admiralty,  not  only  for  collecting  the  said 
duties,  but  for  the  trial  of  causes  merely  arising  within  the  body 
of  a  county. 

And  whereas,  in  consequence  of  other  statutes,  judges,  who 
before  held  only  estates  at  will  in  their  offices,  have  been  made 
dependant  on  the  crown  alone  for  their  salaries,  and  standing 
armies  kept  in  times  of  peace:  And  whereas  it  has  lately  been 
resolved  in  parliament,  that  by  force  of  a  statute,  made  in  the 
thirty-fifth  year  of  the  reign  of  King  Henry  the  Eighth,  colonists 
may  be  transported  to  England,  and  tried  there  upon  accusations 
for  treasons  and  misprisions,  or  concealments  of  treasons  com 
mitted  in  the  colonies,  and  by  a  late  statute,  such  trials  have  been 
directed  in  cases  therein  mentioned: 

And  whereas,  in  the  last  session  of  parliament,  three  statutes 
were  made  .  .  .  [the  Boston  Port  Act,  the  Massachusetts  Govern 
ment  Act,  and  the  Administration  of  Justice  Act;]  .  .  .  and  an 
other  statute  was  then  made  .  .  .  [the  Quebec  Act]  ...  All 
which  statutes  are  impolitic,  unjust,  and  cruel,  as  well  as  uncon 
stitutional,  and  most  dangerous  and  destructive  of  American 
rights : 

And  whereas,  assemblies  have  been  frequently  dissolved,  con 
trary  to  the  rights  of  the  people,  when  they  attempted  to  deliberate 
on  grievances;  and  their  dutiful,  humble,  loyal,  and  reasonable 


164  DECLARATION  AND   RESOLVES  [October  14 

petitions  to  the  crown  for  redress,  have  been  repeatedly  treated 
with  contempt,  by  his  Majesty's  ministers  of  state : 

The  good  people  of  the  several  colonies  of  New-Hampshire, 
Massachusetts-Bay,  Rhode-Island  and  Providence  Plantations, 
Connecticut,  New- York,  New- Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Newcastle, 
Kent,  and  Sussex  on  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  North- 
Carolina,  and  South-Carolina,  justly  alarmed  at  these  arbitrary 
proceedings  of  parliament  and  administration,  have  severally 
elected,  constituted,  and  appointed  duputies  to  meet,  and  sit  in 
general  Congress,  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  in  order  to  obtain 
such  establishment,  as  that  their  religion,  laws,  and  liberties,  may 
not  be  subverted:  Whereupon  the  deputies  so  appointed  being 
now  assembled,  in  a  full  and  free  representation  of  these  colonies, 
taking  into  their  most  serious  consideration,  the  best  means  of 
attaining  the  ends  aforesaid,  do,  in  the  first  place,  as  Englishmen, 
their  ancestors  in  like  cases  have  usually  done,  for  asserting  and 
vindicating  their  rights  and  liberties,  DECLARE, 

That  the  inhabitants  of  the  English  colonies  in  North-America, 
by  the  immutable  laws  of  nature,  the  principles  of  the  English 
constitution,  and  the  several  charters  or  compacts,  have  the  fol 
lowing  RIGHTS: 

Resolved,  N.  C.  D.  i.  That  they  are  entitled  to  life,  liberty 
and  property:  and  they  have  never  ceded  to  any  foreign  power 
whatever,  a  right  to  dispose  of  either  without  their  consent. 

Resolved,  N.  C.  D.  2.  That  our  ancestors,  who  first  settled 
these  colonies,  were  at  the  time  of  their  emigration  from  the  mother 
country,  entitled  to  all  the  rights,  liberties,  and  immunities  of  free 
and  natural-born  subjects,  within  the  realm  of  England. 

Resolved,  N".  C.  D.  3.  That  by  such  emigration  they  by  no 
means  forfeited,  surrendered,  or  lost  any  of  those  rights,  but  that 
they  were,  and  their  descendants  now  are,  entitled  to  the  exercise 
and  enjoyment  of  all  such  of  them,  as  their  local  and  other  cir 
cumstances  enable  them  to  exercise  and  enjoy. 

Resolved,  4.  That  the  foundation  of  English  liberty,  and  of  all 
free  government,  is  a  right  in  the  people  to  participate  in  their 
legislative  council:  and  as  the  English  colonists  are  not  repre 
sented,  and  from  their  local  and  other  circumstances,  cannot 
properly  be  represented  in  the  British  parliament,  they  are  entitled 
to  a  free  and  exclusive  power  of  legislation  in  their  several  pro- 


1774]  DECLARATION  AND   RESOLVES  165 

vincial  legislatures,  where  their  right  of  representation  can  alone 
be  preserved,  in  all  cases  of  taxation  and  internal  polity,  subject 
only  to  the  negative  of  their  sovereign,  in  such  manner  as  has 
been  heretofore  used  and  accustomed:  But,  from  che  necessity 
of  the  case,  and  a  regard  to  the  mutual  interest  of  both  countries, 
we  cheerfully  consent  to  the  operation  of  such  acts  of  the  British 
parliament,  as  are  bona  fide,  restrained  to  the  regulation  of  our 
external  commerce,  for  the  purpose  of  securing  the  commercial 
advantages  of  the  whole  empire  to  the  mother  country,  and  the 
commercial  benefits  of  its  respective  members;  excluding  every 
idea  of  taxation  internal  or  external,  for  raising  a  revenue  on  the 
subjects,  in  America,  without  their  consent. 

Resolved,  N.  C.  D.  5.  That  the  respective  colonies  are  en 
titled  to  the  common  law  of  England,  and  more  especially  to  the 
great  and  inestimable  privilege  of  being  tried  by  their  peers  of 
the  vicinage,  according  to  the  course  of  that  law. 

Resolved,  6.  That  they  are  entitled  to  the  benefit  of  such  of 
the  English  statutes,  as  existed  at  the  time  of  their  colonization; 
and  which  they  have,  by  experience,  respectively  found  to  be 
applicable  to  their  several  local  and  other  circumstances. 

Resolved,  N.  C.  D.  7.  That  these,  his  majesty's  colonies,  are 
likewise  entitled  to  all  the  immunities  and  privileges  granted  and 
confirmed  to  them  by  royal  charters,  or  secured  by  their  several 
codes  of  provincial  laws. 

Resolved,  N.  C.  D.  8.  That  they  have  a  right  peaceably  to 
assemble,  consider  of  their  grievances,  and  petition  the  king; 
and  that  all  prosecutions,  prohibitory  proclamations,  .and  com 
mitments  for  the  same,  are  illegal. 

Resolved,  N.  C.  D.  9.  That  the  keeping  a  standing  army  in 
these  colonies,  in  times  of  peace,  without  the  consent  of  the  legis 
lature  of  that  colony,  in  which  such  army  is  kept,  is  against  law. 

Resolved,  N.  C.  D.  10.  It  is  indispensably  necessary  to  good 
government,  and  rendered  essential  by  the  English  constitution, 
that  the  constituent  branches  of  the  legislature  be  independent 
of  each  other;  that,  therefore,  the  exercise  of  legislative  powrer 
in  several  colonies,  by  a  council  appointed,  during  pleasure,  by 
the  crown,  is  unconstitutional,  dangerous  and  destructive  to  the 
freedom  of  American  legislation. 

All  and  each  of  which  the  aforesaid  deputies,  in  behalf  of  them- 


1 66  THE  ASSOCIATION  [October  20 

selves,  and  their  constituents,  do  claim,  demand,  and  insist  on, 
as  their  indubitable  rights  and  liberties;  which  cannot  be  legally 
taken  from  them,  altered  or  abridged  by  any  power  whatever, 
without  their  own  consent,  by  their  representatives  in  their  several 
provincial  legislatures. 

In  the  course  of  our  inquiry,  we  find  many  infringements  and 
violations  of  the  foregoing  rights,  which,  from  an  ardent  desire, 
that  harmony  and  mutual  intercourse  of  affection  and  interest 
may  be  restored,  we  pass  over  for  the  present,  and  proceed  to  state 
such  acts  and  measures  as  have  been  adopted  since  the  last  war, 
which  demonstrate  a  system  formed  to  enslave  America. 

Resolved,  N.  C.  D.  That  the  following  acts  of  parliament  are 
infringements  and  violations  of  the  rights  of  the  colonists;  and 
that  the  repeal  of  them  is  essentially  necessary,  in  order  to  restore 
harmony  between  Great-Britain  and  the  American  colonies,  viz.  .  .  . 
[The  Stamp  Act,  the  Townshend  Revenue  Act,  the  coercive  acts  of 
1774,  the  Quebec  Act,  &c.].  .  .  . 

Also,  that  the  keeping  a  standing  army  in  several  of  these  colo 
nies,  in  time  of  peace,  without  the  consent  of  the  legislature  of 
that  colony,  in  which  such  army  is  kept,  is  against  law. 

******** 


No.  44.     The  Association 

October  20,  1774 

SEPTEMBER  22,  1774,  the  Continental  Congress  unanimously  voted  to  "re 
quest  the  merchants  and  others,  in  the  several  colonies,  not  to  send  to  Great 
Britain  any  orders  for  goods,  and  to  direct  the  execution  of  all  orders  already 
sent  to  be  delayed  or  suspended,  until  the  sense  of  the  Congress  on  the  means 
to  be  taken  for  the  preservation  of  the  liberties  of  America  is  made  public." 
On  the  27th  it  was  resolved  "that  from  and  after  the  first  day  of  December 
next,  there  be  no  importation  into  British  America,  from  Great  Britain  or 
Ireland,  of  any  goods,  wares  or  merchandize  whatever,  or  from  any  other 
place  of  any  such  goods,  wares  or  merchandizes  as  shall  have  been  exported 
from  Great  Britain  or  Ireland,  and  that  no  such  goods,  wares  or  merchandizes 
imported  after  the  said  first  day  of  December  next  be  used  or  purchased." 
A  resolution  of  September  30  declared  that  exportation  to  Great  Britain, 
Ireland,  and  the  West  Indies  ought  to  cease  from  and  after  Sept.  10,  1775, 
"unless  the  grievances  of  America  are  redressed  before  that  time;"  and  a 
committee  was  appointed  "to  bring  in  a  plan  for  carrying  into  effect  the  non- 


1774]  THE  ASSOCIATION  167 

importation,  non-consumption  and  non-exportation  resolved  on."  October 
6  the  committee  were  directed  to  include  in  their  plan  a  clause  prohibiting  the 
importation,  after  December  i,  of  molasses,  coffee  and  pimento  from  the 
British  plantations  or  Dominica,  wines  from  Madeira  and  the  Western 
Islands,  and  foreign  indigo.  The  report  of  the  comm.ttee  was  brought  in 
October  12,  and  on  the  i8th  was  agreed  to;  on  the  20th  it  was  signed  by 
fifty-three  members  of  the  Congress. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Journals  of  Congress  (ed.  1800),  I.,  31-35. 
Numerous  documents  relating  to  the  observance  of  the  Association  in  the 
different  colonies  are  collected  in  Force's  American  Archives,  Fourth  Series, 
I,  II. 

WE,  his  majesty's  most  loyal  subjects,  the  delegates  of  the 
several  colonies  of  New-Hampshire,  Massachusetts-Bay,  Rhode- 
Island,  Connecticut,  New- York,  New- Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  the 
three  lower  counties  of  Newcastle,  Kent  and  Sussex  on  Delaware, 
Maryland,  Virginia,  North-Carolina,  and  South-Carolina,  deputed 
to  represent  them  in  a  continental  Congress,  held  in  the  :ity  of 
Philadelphia,  on  the  fifth  day  of  September,  1774,  avowing  our 
allegiance  to  his  majesty,  our  affection  and  regard  for  our  fellow- 
subjects  in  Great  Britain  and  elsewhere,  affected  with  the  deepest 
anxiety,  and  most  alarming  apprehensions,  at  those  grievances 
and  distresses,  with  which  his  majesty's  American  subjects  are 
oppressed ;  and  having  taken  under  our  most  serious  deliberation, 
the  state  of  the  whole  continent,  find,  that  the  present  unhappy 
situation  of  our  affairs  is  occasioned  by  a  ruinous  system  of  colony 
administration,  adopted  by  the  British  ministry  about  the  year 
1763,  evidently  calculated  for  inslaving  these  colonies,  and,  with 
them,  the  British  Empire.  In  prosecution  of  which  system,  va 
rious  acts  of  parliament  have  been  passed,  for  raising  a  revenue 
in  America,  for  depriving  the  American  subjects,  in  many  in 
stances,  of  the  constitutional  trial  by  jury,  exposing  their  lives 
to  danger,  by  directing  a  new  and  illegal  trial  beyond  the  seas, 
for  crimes  alleged  to  have  been  committed  in  America:  And  in 
prosecution  of  the  same  system,  several  late,  cruel,  and  oppressive 
acts  have  been  passed,  respecting  the  town  of  Boston  and  the 
Massachusetts-Bay,  and  also  an  act  for  extending  the  province  of 
Quebec,  so  as  to  border  on  the  western  frontiers  of  these  colonies, 
establishing  an  arbitrary  government  therein,  and  discouraging 
the  settlement  of  British  subjects  in  that  wide  extended  country ; 
thus,  by  the  influence  of  civil  principles  and  ancient  prejudices 


1 68  THE   ASSOCIATION  [October  2d 

to  dispose  the  inhabitants  to  act  with  hostility  against  the  free 
Protestant  colonies,  whenever  a  wicked  ministry  shall  chuse  so 
to  direct  them. 

To  obtain  redress  of  these  grievances,  which  threaten  destruc 
tion  to  the  lives,  liberty,  and  property  of  his  majesty's  subjects, 
in  North-America,  we  are  of  opinion,  that  a  non-importation,  non- 
consumption,  and  non-exportation  agreement,  faithfully  ad 
hered  to,  will  prove  the  most  speedy,  effectual,  and  peaceable 
measure :  And,  therefore,  we  do,  for  ourselves,  and  the  inhabitants 
of  the  several  colonies,  whom  we  represent,  firmly  agree  and 
associate,  under  the  sacred  ties  of  virtue,  honour  and  love  of  our 
country,  as  follows: 

First,  That  from  and  after  the  first  day  of  December  next,  we 
will  not  import,  into  British  America,  from  Great-Britain  or  Ire 
land,  any  goods,  wares,  or  merchandize  whatsoever,  or  from  any 
other  place,  any  such  goods,  wares,  or  merchandize,  as  shall  have 
been  exported  from  Great-Britain  or  Ireland;  nor  will  we,  after 
that  day,  import  any  East-India  tea  from  any  part  of  the  world; 
nor  any  molasses,  syrups,  paneles,  coffee,  or  pimento,  from  the 
British  plantations  or  from  Dominica;  nor  wines  from  Madeira, 
or  the  Western  Islands ;  nor  foreign  indigo. 

Second,  We  will  neither  import  nor  purchase,  any  slave  im 
ported  after  the  first  day  of  December  next;  after  which  time, 
we  will  wholly  discontinue  the  slave  trade,  and  will  neither  be  con 
cerned  in  it  ourselves,  nor  will  we  hire  our  vessels,  nor  sell  our 
commodities  or  manufactures  to  those  who  are  concerned  in  it. 

Third,  As  a  non-consumption  agreement,  strictly  adhered  to, 
will  be  an  effectual  security  for  the  observation  of  the  non-im 
portation,  we,  as  above,  solemnly  agree  and  associate,  that  from 
this  day,  we  will  not  purchase  or  use  any  tea,  imported  on  account 
of  the  East-India  company,  or  any  on  which  a  duty  hath  been 
or  shall  be  paid ;  and  from  and  after  the  first  day  of  March  next, 
we  will  not  purchaase  or  use  any  East-India  tea  whatever ;  nor  will 
we,  nor  shall  any  person  for  or  under  us,  purchase  or  use  any 
of  those  goods,  wares,  or  merchandize,  we  have  agreed  not  to 
import,  which  we  shall  know,  or  have  cause  to  suspect,  were 
imported  after  the  first  day  of  December,  except  such  as  come 
under  the  rules  and  directions  of  the  tenth  article  hereafter  men 
tioned. 


i774J  THE   ASSOCIATION  169 

Fourth,  The  earnest  desire  we  have  not  to  injure  our  fellow- 
subjects  in  Great-Britain,  Ireland,  or  the  West-Indies,  induces 
us  to  suspend  a  non-exportation,  until  the  tenth  day  of  September, 
1775;  at  which  time,  if  the  said  acts  and  parts  of  acts  of  the  Brit 
ish  parliament  herein  after  mentioned,  are  not  repealed,  we  will 
not  directly  or  indirectly,  export  any  merchandize  or  commodity 
whatsoever  to  Great-Britain,  Ireland,  or  the  West-Indies,  except 
rice  to  Europe. 

Fifth,  Such  as  are  merchants,  and  use  the  British  and  Irish 
trade,  will  give  orders,  as  soon  as  possible,  to  their  factors,  agents 
and  correspondents,  in  Great-Britain  and  Ireland,  not  to  ship 
any  goods  to  them,  on  any  pretence  whatsoever,  as  they  cannot 
be  received  in  America ;  and  if  any  merchant,  residing  in  Great- 
Britain  or  Ireland,  shall  directly  or  indirectly  ship  any  goods, 
wares  or  merchandize,  for  America,  in  order  to  break  the  said 
non-importation  agreement,  or  in  any  manner  contravene  the 
same,  on  such  unworthy  conduct  being  well  attested,  it  ought  to 
be  made  public;  and,  on  the  same  being  so  done,  we  will  not, 
from  thenceforth,  have  any  commercial  connexion  with  such 
merchant. 

Sixth,  That  such  as  are  owners  of  vessels  will  give  positive 
orders  to  their  captains,  01  masters,  not  to  receive  on  board  their 
vessels  any  goods  prohibited  by  the  said  non-importation  agree 
ment,  on  pain  of  immediate  dismission  from  their  service. 

Seventh,  We  will  use  our  utmost  endeavours  to  improve  the 
breed  of  sheep,  and  increase  their  number  to  the  greatest  extent; 
and  to  that  end,  we  will  kill  them  as  seldom  as  may  be,  especially 
those  of  the  most  profitable  kind;  nor  will  we  export  any  to  the 
West-Indies  or  elsewhere;  and  those  of  us,  who  are  or  may  be 
come  overstocked  with,  or  can  conveniently  spare  any  sheep, 
will  dispose  of  them  to  our  neighbours,  especially  to  the  poorer 
sort,  on  moderate  terms. 

Eighth,  We  will,  in  our  several  stations,  encourage  frugality, 
ceconomy,  and  industry,  and  promote  agriculture,  arts  and  the 
manufactures  of  this  country,  especially  that  of  wool;  and  will 
discountenance  and  discourage  every  species  of  extravagance  and 
dissipation,  especially  all  horse-racing,  and  all  kinds  of  gaming, 
cock  fighting,  exhibitions  of  shews,  plays,  and  other  expensive 
diversions  and  entertainments;  and  on  the  death  of  any  relation 


170  THE   ASSOCIATION  [October  20 

or  friend,  none  of  us,  or  any  of  our  families  will  go  into  anv 
further  mourning-dress,  than  a  black  crape  or  ribbon  on  the  arm 
or  hat,  for  gentlemen,  and  a  black  ribbon  and  necklace  for  ladies, 
and  we  will  discontinue  the  giving  of  gloves  and  scarves  at 
funerals. 

Ninth,  Such  as  are  venders  of  goods  or  merchandize  will  not 
take  advantage  of  the  scarcity  of  goods,  that  may  be  occasioned 
by  this  association,  but  will  sell  the  same  at  the  rates  we  have 
been  respectively  accustomed  to  do,  for  twelve  months  last  past. 
—  And  if  any  vender  of  goods  or  merchandize  shall  sell  such 
goods  on  higher  terms,  or  shall,  in  any  manner,  or  by  any  device 
whatsoever,  violate  or  depart  from  this  agreement,  no  person 
ought,  nor  will  any  of  us  deal  with  any  such  person,  or  his  or 
her  factor  or  agent,  at  any  time  thereafter,  for  any  commodity 
whatever. 

Tenth,  In  case  any  merchant,  trader,  or  other  person,  shall  im 
port  any  goods  or  merchandize,  after  the  first  day  of  December, 
and  before  the  first  day  of  February  next,  the  same  ought  forth 
with,  at  the  election  of  the  owner,  to  be  either  re-shipped  or 
delivered  up  to  the  committee  of  the  country  or  town,  wherein 
they  shall  be  imported,  to  be  stored  at  the  risque  of  the  importer, 
until  the  non-importation  agreement  shall  cease,  or  be  sold  under 
the  direction  of  the  committee  aforesaid;  and  in  the  last-men 
tioned  case,  the  owner  or  owners  of  such  goods  shall  be  reim 
bursed  out  of  the  sales,  the  first  cost  and  charges,  the  profit,  if 
any,  to  be  applied  towards  relieving  and  employing  such  poor 
inhabitants  of  the  town  of  Boston,  as  are  immediate  sufferers  by 
the  Boston  port-bill;  and  a  particular  account  of  all  goods  so 
returned,  stored,  or  sold,  to  be  inserted  in  the  public  papers; 
and  if  any  goods  or  merchandizes  shall  be  imported  after  the  said 
first  day  of  February,  the  same  ought  forthwith  to  be  sent  back 
again,  without  breaking  any  of  the  packages  thereof. 

Eleventh,  That  a  committee  be  chosen  in  every  county,  city, 
and  town,  by  those  who  are  qualified  to  vote  for  representatives 
in  the  legislature,  whose  business  it  shall  be  attentively  to  observe 
the  conduct  of  all  persons  touching  this  association;  and  when 
it  shall  be  made  to  appear,  to  the  satisfaction  of  a  majority  of 
any  such  committee,  that  any  person  within  the  limits  of  their 
appointment  has  violated  this  association,  that  such  majority  do 


1774]  LORD   NORTH'S   RESOLUTION  171 

forthwith  cause  the  truth  of  the  case  to  be  published  in  the 
gazette;  to  the  end,  that  all  such  foes  to  the  rights  of  British- 
America  may  be  publicly  known,  and  universally  contemned  as 
the  enemies  of  American  liberty;  and  thenceforth  we  respectively 
will  break  off  all  dealings  with  him  or  her. 

Twelfth,  That  the  committee  of  correspondence,  in  the  respec 
tive  colonies,  do  frequently  inspect  the  entries  of  their  custom 
houses,  and  inform  each  other,  from  time  to  time,  of  the  true 
state  thereof,  and  of  every  other  material  circumstance  that  may 
occur  relative  to  this  association. 

Thirteenth,  That  all  manufactures  of  this  country  be  sold  at 
reasonable  prices,  so  that  no  undue  advantage  be  taken  of  a  future 
scarcity  of  goods. 

Fourteenth,  And  we  do  further  agree  and  resolve,  that  we  will 
have  no  trade,  commerce,  dealings  or  intercourse  whatsoever, 
with  any  colony  or  province,  in  North-America,  which  shall  not 
accede  to,  or  which  shall  hereafter  violate  this  association,  but 
will  hold  them  as  unworthy  of  the  rights  of  freemen,  and  as  inimical 
to  the  liberties  of  their  country. 

[This  association  to  be  adhered  to  until  the  acts  complained 
of  are  repealed.] 


No.  45.     Lord  North's  Conciliatory  Resolu 
tion 

February  27,  1775 

LORD  NORTH'S  unexpected  offer  of  conciliation,  in  the  form  of  the  reso 
lution  following,  was  presented  to  the  House  of  Commons,  in  Committee  of  the 
Whole,  February  20,  1775.  Although  the  proposal  was  generally  unsatisfac 
tory  to  the  friends  of  the  ministry,  it  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  274  to  88.  On 
the  27th  the  resolution  was  reported  to  the  House,  and  agreed  to. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Force's  American  Archives,  Fourth  Series,  I., 
1598.  The  debates  on  the  resolution  are  also  in  ib.,  1597-1622.  Public 
opinion  in  England  is  best  exhibited  in  the  Annual  Register  (1775).  Dart 
mouth's  letter  to  the  governors,  March  3,  urging  acceptance  of  the  proposition, 
is  in  Force,  op.  cit.,  Fourth  Series,  II.,  27,  28. 

That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  Committee,  that  when  the  Gov- 
ernour,  Council,  and  Assembly,  or  General  Court,  of  any  of  his 


172  NEW  ENGLAND   RESTRAINING  ACT        [March  30 

Majesty's  Provinces  or  Colonies  in  America,  shall  propose  to 
make  provision,  according  to  the  condition,  circumstances,  and 
situation  of  such  Province  or  Colony,  for  contributing  their  pro 
portion  to  the  common  defence,  (such  proportion  to  be  raised 
under  the  authority  of  the  General  Court,  or  General  Assembly, 
of  such  Province  or  Colony,  and  disposable  by  Parliament,)  and 
shall  engage  to  make  provision  also  for  the  support  of  the  Civil 
Government,  and  the  Administration  of  Justice,  in  such  Province 
or  Colony,. it  will  be  proper,  if  such  proposal  shall  be  approved 
by  his  Majesty  and  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament,  and  for  so 
long  as  such  provision  shall  be  made  accordingly,  to  forbear,  in 
respect  of  such  Province  or  Colony,  to  levy  any  Duty,  Tax,  or 
Assessment,  or  to  impose  any  farther  Duty,  Tax,  or  Assessment, 
except  only  such  Duties  as  it  may  be  expedient  to  continue  to 
levy  or  to  impose  for  the  regulation  of  commerce ;  the  nett  produce 
of  the  Duties  last  mentioned  to  be  carried  to  the  account  of  such 
Province  or  Colony  respectively. 


No.  46.     New  England  Restraining  Act 

March  30,  1775 

THE  petition  to  the  King,  adopted  by  the  first  Continental  Congress 
Oct.  26,  1774,  was  laid  before  Parliament  Jan.  19,  1775,  accompanied  by  volu 
minous  papers  relating  to  affairs  in  America.  February  i  a  provisional  bill, 
presented  to  the  House  of  Lords  by  the  Earl  of  Chatham,  and  designed  to 
settle  the  difficulties  in  the  colonies  while  "asserting  the  supreme  legislative 
authority  and  superintending  power  of  Great  Britain,"  was  rejected.  An 
address  to  the  King,  assuring  him  of  support  at  all  hazards  in  measures  to  put 
down  rebellion,  was  agreed  to  notwithstanding  the  protest  of  eighteen  mem 
bers  of  the  Lords,  who  pronounced  the  address  a  virtual  declaration  cf  war. 
February  10,  in  the  Commons,  Lord  North,  asserting  that  "as  the  Americans 
had  refused  to  trade  with  Great  Britain,  it  was  but  just  that  they  be  not  suf 
fered  to  trade  with  any  other  nation,"  moved  for  leave  to  bring  in  a  bill  to 
restrain  the  trade  and  commerce  of  the  New  England  colonies  to  Great 
Britain,  Ireland,  and  the  West  Indies.  By  a  vote  of  261  to  85  the  motion 
was  carried.  The  bill  was  presented  on  the  i7th,  had  its  second  reading  on 
the  24th,  and  March  8  passed  without  a  division.  The  bill  had  its  second 
reading  in  the  Lords  March  16,  and  passed  that  house  on  the  2ist,  by  a  vote 
of  73  to  21,  with  an  amendment,  agreed  to  by  a  vote  of  52  to  21,  including 


1775]  NEW  ENGLAND   RESTRAINING   ACT  173 

New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  South  Carolina  within 
the  scope  of  the  act.  Sixteen  Lords  entered  a  protest  against  the  bill.  The 
Commons,  who  already  had  before  them  a  bill  restraining  the  trade  of  the 
southern  colonies,  rejected  the  amendment,  and  the  bill  passed  without  it. 
March  30  the  act  received  the  royal  assent.  The  bill  to  restrain  the  trade  of 
the  other  colonies  became  law  in  April.  Both  acts  were  repealed  by  an  act  of 
December  22,  1775,  prohibiting  all  trade  and  intercourse  with  America. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Pickering's  Statutes  at  Large,  XXXI.,  4-^.  The 
act  is  cited  as  15  Geo.  III.,  c.  10.  For  the  proceedings  in  Parliament,  see 
the  Parliamentary  History,  XVIII.,  or  Force's  American  Archives,  Fourth 
Series,  I.,  1621-1716;  cf.  also  the  Annual  Register  (1775). 

An  act  to  restrain  the  trade  and  commerce  of  the  provinces  of 
Massachusetts  Bay  and  New  Hampshire,  and  colonies  of  Con 
necticut  and  Rhode  Island,  and  Providence  Plantation,  in 
North  America,  to  Great  Britain,  Ireland,  and  the  British 
islands  in  the  West  Indies;  and  to  prohibit  such  provinces  and 
colonies  from  carrying  on  any  fishery  on  the  banks  of  New 
foundland,  or  other  places  therein  mentioned,  under  certain  con 
ditions  and  limitations. 

[The  section  begins  with  a  statement  of  the  purport  of  certain 
of  the  acts  of  trade,  and  continues:]  and  whereas,  during  the 
continuance  of  the  combinations  and  disorders,  which  at  this  time 
prevail  within  the  provinces  of  Massachusetts  Bay  and  New  Hamp 
shire,  and  the  colonies  of  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island,  to  the 
obstruction  of  the  commerce  of  these  kingdoms,  and  other  his 
Majesty 's  dominions,  and  in  breach  and  violation  of  the  laws  of 
this  realm,  it  is  highly  unfit  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  said  prov 
inces  and  colonies  should  enjoy  the  same  privileges  of  trade,  and 
the  same  benefits  and  advantages  to  which  his  Majesty's  faithful 
and  obedient  subjects  are  intitled;  be  it  therefore  enacted  .  .  .  , 
That  from  and  after  ...  [July  i,  1775,]  .  .  .  and  during  the 
continuance  of  this  act,  no  goods,  wares,  or  merchandises,  which 
are  particularly  enumerated  in,  and  by  the  said  act  made  in  the 
twelfth  year  of  king  Charles  the  Second,  or  any  other  act,  being 
the  growth,  product,  or  manufacture  of  the  provinces  of  Massa- 
chuset's  Bay,  or  New  Hampshire,  or  colonies  of  Connecticut, 
Rhode  Island,  or  Providence  Plantation,  in  North  America,  or  any 
or  either  of  them,  are  to  be  brought  to  some  other  British  colony, 
or  to  Great  Britain;  or  any  such  enumerated  goods,  wares,  or 


174  NEW   ENGLAND   RESTRAINING   ACT       [March  3^ 

merchandise,  which  shall  at  any  time  or  times  have  been  imported 
or  brought  into  the  said  provinces  or  colonies,  or  any  or  either  of 
them,  shall  be  shipped,  carried,  conveyed,  or  transported,  from 
any  of  the  said  provinces  or  colonies  respectively,  to  any  land, 
island,  territory,  dominion,  port,  or  place  whatsoever,  other  than 
to  Great  Britain,  or  some  of  the  British  islands  in  the  West  Indies, 
to  be  laid  on  shore  there;  and  that  no  other  goods,  wares,  or 
merchandises  whatsoever,  of  the  growth,  product,  or  manufacture 
of  the  provinces  or  colonies  herein-before  mentioned,  or  which 
shall  at  any  time  or  times  have  been  imported  or  brought  into  the 
same,  shall,  from  and  after  the  said  first  day  of  July,  and  during  the 
continuance  of  this  act,  be  shipped,  carried,  conveyed,  or  trans 
ported,  from  any  of  the  said  provinces  or  colonies  respectively, 
to  any  other  land,  island,  territory,  dominion,  port,  or  place  what 
soever,  except  to  the  kingdoms  of  Great  Britain  or  Ireland,  or  to 
some  of  the  British  islands  in  the  West  Indies,  to  be  laid  on  shore 

there;  any  law,  custom,  or  usage,  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 
*  *  *  *  *  *    '        *  * 

IV.  And  it  is  hereby  further  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  from  and 
after  .  .  .  [September  i,  1775]  .  .  .  and  during  the  continuance 
of  this  act,  no  sort  of  wines,  salt,  or  any  goods  or  commodities 
whatsoever,  (except  horses,  victual,  and  linen  cloth,  the  produce 
and  manufacture  of  Ireland,  imported  directly  from  thence), 
shall  be  imported  into  any  of  the  said  colonies  or  provinces  herein 
before  respectively  mentioned,  upon  any  pretence  whatsoever, 
unless  such  goods  shall  be  bona  Jide  and  without  fraud  laden  and 
shipped  in  Great  Britain,  and  carried  directly  from  thence,  upon 
forfeiture  thereof,  and  of  the  ship  or  vessel  on  board  which  such 
goods  shall  be  laden  .  .  . 

******** 

VI.  [Goods  from  the  British  West  Indies  may  continue  to  be 
imported.] 

VII.  And  it  is  hereby  further  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  if  any  ship 
or  vessel,  being  the  property  of  the  subjects  of  Great  Britain,  not 
belonging  to  and  fitted  out  from  Great  Britain  or  Ireland,  or 
the  islands  of  Guernsey,  Jersey,  Sark,  Alderney,  or  Man,  shall 
be    found,    after  .  .  .  [July    20,    1775,]  •  •  •  carrying    on    any 
fishery,  of  what  nature  or  kind  soever,  upon  the  banks  of  New 
foundland,  the  coast  of  Labrador,  or  within  the  river  or  gulf  of 


1775]  NEW   ENGLAND   RESTRAINING   ACT  175 

Saint  Lawrence,  or  upon  the  coast  of  Cape  Breton,  or  Nova  Scotia, 
or  any  other  part  of  the  coast  of  North  America,  or  having  on  board 
materials  for  carrying  on  any  such  fishery,  every  such  ship  or 
vessel,  with  her  guns,  ammunition,  tackle,  apparel,  and  furniture, 
together  with  the  fish,  if  any  shall  be  found  on  board,  shall  be  for 
feited,  unless  the  master,  or  other  person,  having  the  charge  of 
such  ship  or  vessel,  do  produce  to  the  commander  of  any  of  his 
Majesty's  ships  of  war,  stationed  for  the  protection  and  super 
intendence  of  the  British  fisheries  in  America,  a  certificate,  under 
the  hand  and  seal  of  the  governor  or  commander  in  chief,  of  any 
of  the  colonies  or  plantations  of  Quebec,  Newfoundland,  Saint 
John,  Nova  Scotia,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pensylvania,  Mary 
land,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  East 
Florida,  West  Florida,  Bahamas,  and  Bermudas,  setting  forth, 
that  such  ship  or  vessel,  expressing  her  name,  and  the  name  of 
her  master,  and  describing  her  built  and  burthen,  hath  fitted  and 
cleared  out,  from  some  one  of  the  said  colonies  or  plantations,  in 
order  to  proceed  upon  the  said  fishery,  and  that  she  actually  and 
bona  fide  belongs  to  and  is  the  whole  and  entire  property  of  his 
Majesty's  subjects,  inhabitants  of  the  said  colony  or  plantation.  .  . 

[Section  VIII  subjects  vessels  engaged  in  the  fisheries  to  search. 
Sections  IX.,  X.,  and  XL  provide  that  this  act  shall  not  extend 
to  ships  clearing  from  the  colonies  before  June  i,  for  the  whale 
fishery  only;  nor  to  ships  belonging  to  the  island  of  Nantucket, 
cleared  for  the  whale  fishery,  and  having  a  proper  certificate; 
nor  to  fishing  vessels  fitted  out  by  the  towns  of  Marshfield  and 
Scituate.  By  Sec.  XII.,  the  St.  Croix  river  is  declared  to  be, 
for  the  purposes  of  this  act,  the  boundary  between  Massachusetts 
and  Nova  Scotia.] 

XIII.  And  whereas  it  is  the  intent  and  meaning  of  this  act, 
that  the  several  prohibitions  and  restraints  herein  imposed  upon 
the  trade  and  commerce,  and  fisheries,  of  the  said  provinces  and 
colonies  should  be  discontinued  and  cease,  so  soon  as  the  trade 
and  commerce  of  his  Majesty's  subjects  may  be  carried  on  without 
interruption;  be  it  therefore  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  whenever  it  shall 
be  made  appear  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  Majesty's  governor  or 
commander  in  chief,  and  the  majority  of  the  council,  in  the 
provinces  of  New  Hampshire  and  Massachusetts  Bay  respectively, 
that  peace  and  obedience  to  the  laws  shall  be  so  far  restored 


176  DECLARATION   OF   CAUSES  [July  6 

within  the  said  provinces,  or  either  of  them,  that  the  trade  and 
commerce  of  his  Majesty's  subjects  may  be  carried  on  without 
interruption  within  the  same;  and  that  goods,  wares,  and  mer 
chandise,  have  been  freely  imported  into  the  said  provinces,  or 
either  of  them,  from  Great  Britain,  and  exposed  to  sale,  without 
any  let,  hindrance,  or  molestation,  from  or  by  reason  of  any  un 
lawful  combinations  to  prevent  or  obstruct  the  same;  and  that 
goods,  wares,  and  merchandise,  have  in  like  manner  been  exported 
from  the  said  provinces,  or  either  of  them  respectively,  to  Great 
Britain,  for  and  during  the  term  of  one  calendar  month  preceed- 
ing;  that  then,  and  in  such  case,  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for 
the  governor  or  commander  in  chief,  with  the  advice  of  the 
council  of  such  provinces  respectively,  by  proclamation,  under 
the  seal  of  such  respective  province,  to  notify  the  same  to  the 
several  officers  of  the  customs,  and  all  others;  and  after  such 
proclamation,  this  act  with  respect  to  such  province,  within  which 
such  proclamation  or  proclamations  have  been  issued  as  afore 
said,  shall  be  discontinued  and  cease,  (except  as  herein-after 
provided)  .  .  . 

[By  Sections  XIV.  and  XV.,  like  proclamation  may  be  made 
for  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island,  on  proof  that  lawful  trade  has 
been  resumed;  but  proceedings  upon  previous  seizures  are  not 
to  be  thereby  discharged.] 


No.    47.      Declaration    of    the   Causes    and 
Necessity  of  Taking  up  Arms 

July  6,  1775 

JUNE  23,  1775,  John  Rutledge  of  South  Carolina,  William  Livingston  of 
New  Jersey,  Franklin,  Jay,  and  Thomas  Johnson  of  Maryland,  were  ap 
pointed  a  committee  "to  draw  up  a  declaration,  to  be  published  by  General 
Washington,  upon  his  arrival  at  the  camp  before  Boston."  The  report  was 
brought  in  the  next  day,  and  on  the  26th,  after  debate,  was  recommitted,  and 
Dickinson  and  Jefferson  added  to  the  committee.  A  draft  prepared  by 
Jefferson  being  thought  by  Dickinson  too  outspoken,  the  latter  prepared  a 
new  one,  retaining,  however,  the  closing  paragraphs  as  drawn  by  Jefferson. 
In  this  form  the  declaration  was  reported  June  27,  and  agreed  to  July  6. 


1775]  DECLARATION   OF   CAUSES  177 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Journals  of  Congress  (ed.  1800),  I.,  134-139. 
The  case  for  the  colonies  in  1775  is  best  stated  in  John  Adams's  Novanglus 
(Works,  IV.,  11-177),  in  reply  to  a  series  of  newspaper  articles  by  Daniel 
Leonard,  over  the  signature  of  Massachusettensis.  The  two  series  were 
printed  together  at  Boston  in  1819. 

A  declaration  by  the  Representatives  of  the  United  Colonies  of 
North- America,  now  met  in  Congress  at  Philadelphia,  setting 
forth  the  causes  and  necessity  of  their  taking  up  arms. 

IF  it  was  possible  for  men,  who  exercise  their  reason  to  believe, 
that  the  divine  Author  of  our  existence  intended  a  part  of  the 
human  race  to  hold  an  absolute  property  in,  and  an  unbounded 
power  over  others,  marked  out  by  his  infinite  goodness  and  wis 
dom  as  the  objects  of  a  legal  domination  never  rightfully  re 
sistible,  however  severe  and  oppressive,  the  inhabitants  of  these 
colonies  might  at  least  require  from  the  parliament  of  Great- 
Britain  some  evidence,  that  this  dreadful  authority  over  them, 
has  been  granted  to  that  body.  But  a  reverence  for  our  great 
Creator,  principles  of  humanity,  and  the  dictates  of  common 
sense,  must  convince  all  those  who  reflect  upon  the  subject,  that 
government  was  instituted  to  promote  the  welfare  of  mankind, 
and  ought  to  be  administered  for  the  attainment  of  that  end. 
The  legislature  of  Great-Britain,  however,  stimulated  by  an  inor 
dinate  passion  for  a  power  not  only  unjustifiable,  but  whicn  they 
know  to  be  peculiarly  reprobated  by  the  very  constitution  of  that 
kingdom,  and  desperate  of  success  in  any  mode  of  contest,  where 
regard  should  be  had  to  truth,  law,  or  right,  have  at  length,  desert 
ing  those,  attempted  to  effect  their  cruel  and  impolitic  purpose 
of  enslaving  these  colonies  by  violence,  and  have  thereby  rendered 
it  necessary  for  us  to  close  with  their  last  appeal  from  reason  to 
arms.  —  Yet,  however  blinded  that  assembly  may  be,  by  their 
intemperate  rage  for  unlimited  domination,  so  to  slight  justice 
and  the  opinion  of  mankind,  we  esteem  ourselves  bound  by  obli 
gations  of  respect  to  the  rest  of  the  world,  to  make  known  the 
justice  of  our  cause. 

Our  forefathers,  inhabitants  of  the  island  of  Great-Britain,  left 
their  native  land,  to  seek  on  these  shores  a  residence  for  civil  and 
religious  freedom.  At  the  expense  of  their  blood,  at  the  hazard 
of  their  fortunes,  without  the  least  charge  to  the  country  from 


178  DECLARATION    OF   CAUSES  [July  6 

which  they  removed,  by  unceasing  labour,  and  an  unconquerable 
spirit,  they  effected  settlements  in  the  distant  and  inhospitable 
wilds  of  America,  then  filled  with  numerous  and  warlike  nations 
of  barbarians.  —  Societies  or  governments,  vested  with  perfect 
legislatures,  were  formed  under  charters  from  the  crown,  and  an 
harmonious  intercourse  was  established  between  the  colonies  and 
the  kingdom  from  which  they  derived  their  origin.  The  mutual 
benefits  of  this  union  became  in  a  short  time  so  extraordinary,  as 
to  excite  astonishment.  It  is  universally  confessed,  tha;  the 
amazing  increase  of  the  wealth,  strength,  and  navigation  of  the 
realm,  arose  from  this  source;  and  the  minister,  who  so  wisely 
and  successfully  directed  the  measures  of  Great-Britain  in  the 
late  war,  publicly  declared,  that  these  colonies  enabled  her  to 
triumph  over  her  enemies.  —  Towards  the  conclusion  of  that  war, 
it  pleased  our  sovereign  to  make  a  change  in  his  counsels.  — 
From  that  fatal  moment,  the  affairs  of  the  British  empire  began 
to  fall  into  confusion,  and  gradually  sliding  from  the  summit  of 
glorious  prosperity,  to  which  they  had  been  advanced  by  the  vir 
tues  and  abilities  of  one  man,  are  at  length  distracted  by  the 
convulsions,  that  now  shake  it  to  its  deepest  foundations.  —  The 
new  ministry  finding  the  brave  foes  of  Britain,  though  frequently 
defeated,  yet  still  contending,  took  up  the  unfortunate  idea  of 
granting  them  a  hasty  peace,  and  of  then  subduing  her  faithful 
friends. 

These  devoted  colonies  were  judged  to  be  in  such  a  state,  as 
to  present  victories  without  bloodshed,  and  all  the  easy  emolu 
ments  of  statuteable  plunder.  —  The  uninterrupted  tenor  of  their 
peaceable  and  respectful  behaviour  from  the  beginning  of  colo 
nization,  their  dutiful,  zealous,  and  useful  services  during  the 
war,  though  so  recently  and  amply  acknowledged  in  the  most 
honourable  manner  by  his  majesty,  by  the  late  king,  and  by  par 
liament,  could  not  save  them  from  the  meditated  innovations.  — 
Parliament  was  influenced  to  adopt  the  pernicious  project,  and 
assuming  a  new  power  over  them,  have  in  the  course  of  eleven 
years,  given  such  decisive  specimens  of  the  spirit  and  conse 
quences  attending  this  power,  as  to  leave  no  doubt  concerning 
the  effects  of  acquiescence  under  it.  They  have  undertaken  to 
give  and  grant  our  money  without  our  consent,  though  we  have 
ever  exercised  an  exclusive  right  to  dispose  of  our  own  property; 


1775]  DECLARATION   OF   CAUSES  179 

statutes  have  been  passed  for  extending  the  jurisdiction  of  courts 
of  admiralty  and  vice-admiralty  beyond  their  ancient  limits;  for 
depriving  us  of  the  accustomed  and  inestimable  privilege  of  trial 
by  jury,  in  cases  affecting  both  life  and  property;  for  suspending 
the  legislature  of  one  of  the  colonies;  for  interdicting  all  com 
merce  to  the  r^pital  of  another;  and  for  altering  fundamentally 
the  form  of  government  established  by  charter,  and  secured  by 
acts  of  its  own  legislature  solemnly  confirmed  by  the  crown;  for 
exempting  the  " murderers"  of  colonists  from  legal  trial,  and  in 
effect,  from  punishment ;  for  erecting  in  a  neighbouring  province, 
acquired  by  the  joint  arms  of  Great-Britain  and  America,  a  des 
potism  dangerous  to  our  very  existence;  and  for  quartering  sol 
diers  upon  the  colonists  in  time  of  profound  peace.  It  has  also 
been  resolved  in  parliament,  that  colonists  charged  with  com 
mitting  certain  offences,  shall  be  transported  to  England  to  be 
tried. 

But  why  should  we  enumerate  our  injuries  in  detail  ?  By  one 
statute  it  is  declared,  that  parliament  can  "of  right  make  laws  to 
bind  us  in  all  cases  whatsoever."  What  is  to  defend  us  against 
so  enormous,  so  unlimited  a  power?  Not  a  single  man  of  those 
who  assume  it,  is  chosen  by  us ;  or  is  subject  to  our  controul  or 
influence ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  they  are  all  of  them  exempt  from 
the  operation  of  such  laws,  and  an  American  revenue,  if  not  di 
verted  from  the  ostensible  purposes  for  which  it  is  raised,  would 
actually  lighten  their  own  burdens  in  proportion,  as  they  increase 
ours.  We  saw  the  misery  to  which  such  despotism  would  reduce 
us.  We  *or  ten  years  incessantly  and  ineffectually  besieged  the 
throne  as  supplicants ;  we  reasoned,  we  remonstrated  with  parlia 
ment,  in  the  most  mild  and  decent  language. 

Administration  sensible  that  we  should  regard  these  oppressive 
measures  as  freemen  ought  to  do,  sent  over  fleets  and  armies  to 
enforce  them.  The  indignation  of  the  Americans  was  roused,  it 
is  true ;  but  it  was  the  indignation  of  a  virtuous,  loyal,  and  affec 
tionate  people.  A  Congress  of  delegates  from  the  United  Colonies 
was  assembled  at  Philadelphia,  on  the  fifth  day  of  last  September. 
We  resolved  again  to  offer  an  humble  and  dutiful  petition  to  the 
king,  and  also  addressed  our  fellow-subjects  of  Great-Britain. 
We  have  pursued  every  temperate,  every  respectful  measure: 
we  have  even  proceeded  to  break  off  our  commercial  intercourse 


180  DECLARATION    OF   CAUSES  [July  6 

with  our  fellow-subjects,  as  the  last  peaceable  admonition,  that 
our  attachment  to  no  nation  upon  earth  should  supplant  our 
attachment  to  liberty.  —  This,  we  flattered  ourselves,  was  the 
ultimate  step  of  the  controversy:  but  subsequent  events  have 
shewn,  how  vain  was  this  hope  of  finding  moderation  in  our 
enemies. 

Several  threatening  expressions  against  the  colonies  were  in 
serted  in  his  majesty's  speech;  our  petition,  tho'  we  were  told  it 
was  a  decent  one,  and  that  his  majesty  had  been  pleased  to  receive 
it  graciously,  and  to  promise  laying  it  before  his  parliament, 
was  huddled  into  both  houses  among  a  bundle  of  American 
papers,  and  there  neglected.  The  lords  and  commons  in  their 
address,  in  the  month  of  February,  said,  that  "a  rebellion  at 
that  time  actually  existed  within  the  province  of  Massachusetts- 
Bay;  and  that  those  concerned  in  it,  had  been  countenanced  and 
encouraged  by  unlawful  combinations  and  engagements,  entered 
into  by  his  majesty's  subjects  in  several  of  the  other  colonies; 
and  therefore  they  besought  his  majesty,  that  he  would  take  the 
most  effectual  measures  to  inforce  due  obedience  to  the  laws  and 
authority  of  the  supreme  legislature."  •  —  Soon  after,  the  commer 
cial  intercourse  of  whole  colonies,  with  foreign  countries,  and 
with  each  other,  was  cut  off  by  an  act  of  parliament;  by  another 
several  of  them  were  intirely  prohibited  from  the  fisheries  in  the 
seas  near  their  co[a]sts,  on  which  they  always  depended  for  their 
sustenance;  and  large  reinforcements  of  ships  and  troops  were 
immediately  sent  over  to  general  Gage. 

Fruitless  were  all  the  entreaties,  arguments,  and  eloquence  of 
an  illustrious  band  of  the  most  distinguished  peers,  and  com 
moners,  who  nobly  and  strenuously  asserted  the  justice  of  our 
cause,  to  stay,  or  even  to  mitigate  the  heedless  fury  with  which 
these  accumulated  and  unexampled  outrages  were  hurried  on.  — 
Equally  fruitless  was  the  interference  of  the  city  of  London,  of 
Bristol,  and  many  other  respectable  towns  in  our  favour.  Parlia 
ment  adopted  an  insidious  manoeuvre  calculated  to  divide  us,  to 
establish  a  perpetual  auction  of  taxations  where  colony  should 
bid  against  colony,  all  of  them  uninformed  what  ransom  would 
redeem  their  lives;  and  thus  to  extort  from  us,  at  the  point  of 
the  bayonet,  the  unknown  sums  that  should  be  sufficient  to  gratify, 
if  possible  to  gratify,  ministerial  rapacity,  with  the  miserable 


i77S]  DECLARATION   OF   CAUSES  181 

indulgence  left  to  us  of  raising,  in  our  own  mode,  the  prescribed 
tribute.  What  terms  more  rigid  and  humiliating  could  have  been 
dictated  by  remorseless  victors  to  conquered  enemies?  in  our 
circumstances  to  accept  them,  would  be  to  deserve  them. 

Soon  after  the  intelligence  of  these  proceedings  arrived  on  this 
continent,  general  Gage,  who  in  the  course  of  the  last  year  had 
taken  possession  of  the  town  of  Boston,  in  the  province  of  Mas 
sachusetts-Bay,  and  still  occupied  it  is  [as]  a  garrison,  on  the 
igth  day  of  April,  sent  out  from  that  place  a  large  detachment  of 
his  army,  who  made  an  unprovoked  assault  on  the  inhabitants  of 
the  said  province,  at  the  town  of  Lexington,  as  appears  by  the 
affidavits  of  a  great  number  of  persons,  some  of  whom  were 
officers  and  soldiers  of  that  detachment,  murdered  eight  of  the 
inhabitants,  and  wounded  many  others.  From  thence  the  troops 
proceeded  in  warlike  array  to  the  town  of  Concord,  where  they 
set  upon  another  party  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  same  province, 
killing  several  and  wounding  more,  until  compelled  to  retreat  by 
the  country  people  suddenly  assembled  to  repel  this  cruel  aggres 
sion.  Hostilities,  thus  commenced  by  the  British  troops,  have 
been  since  prosecuted  by  them  without  regard  to  faith  or  reputa 
tion.  —  The  inhabitants  of  Boston  being  confined  within  that 
town  by  the  general  their  governor,  and  having,  in  order  to  pro 
cure  their  dismission,  entered  into  a  treaty  with  him,  it  was  stipu 
lated  that  the  said  inhabitants  having  deposited  their  arms  with 
their  own  magistrates,  should  have  liberty  to  depart,  taking 
with  them  their  other  effects.  They  accordingly  delivered  up  their 
arms,  but  in  open  violation  of  honour,  in  defiance  of  the  obliga 
tion  of  treaties,  which  even  savage  nations  esteemed  sacred,  the 
governor  ordered  the  arms  deposited  as  aforesaid,  that  they  might 
be  preserved  for  their  owners,  to  be  seized  by  a  body  of  soldiers; 
detained  the  greatest  part  of  the  inhabitants  in  the  town,  and 
compelled  the  few  who  were  permitted  to  retire,  to  leave  their 
most  valuable  effects  behind. 

By  this  perfidy  wives  are  separated  from  their  husbands,  chil 
dren  from  their  parents,  the  aged  and  the  sick  from  their  rela 
tions  and  friends,  wrho  wish  to  attend  and  comfort  them;  and 
those  who  have  been  used  to  live  in  plenty  and  even  elegance, 
are  reduced  to  deplorable  distress. 

The  general,  further  emulating  his  ministerial  masters,  by  a 


182  DECLARATION    OF   CAUSES  [July  6 

proclamation  bearing  date  on  the  i2th  day  of  June,  after  venting 
the  grossest  falsehoods  and  calumnies  against  the  good  people 
of  these  colonies,  proceeds  to  "declare  them  all,  either  by  name  or 
description,  to  be  rebels  and  traitors,  to  supersede  the  :ourse  of 
the  common  law,  and  instead  thereof  to  publish  and  order  the 
use  and  exercise  of  the  law  martial."  -  His  troops  have  butch 
ered  our  countrymen,  have  wantonly  burnt  Charlestown,  besides 
a  considerable  number  of  houses  in  other  places;  our  ships  and 
vessels  are  seized;  the  necessary  supplies  of  provisions  are  inter 
cepted,  and  he  is  exerting  his  utmost  power  to  spread  destruction 
and  devastation  around  him. 

We  have  received  certain  intelligence,  that  general  Carelton 
[Carleton],  the  governor  of  Canada,  is  instigating  the  people  of 
that  province  and  the  Indians  to  fall  upon  us;  and  we  have  but 
too  much  reason  to  apprehend,  that  schemes  have  been  formed 
to  excite  domestic  enemies  against  us.  In  brief,  a  part  of  these 
colonies  now  feel,  and  all  of  them  are  sure  of  feeling,  as  far  as 
the  vengeance  of  administration  can  inflict  them,  the  compli 
cated  calamities  of  fire,  sword,  and  famine.  We  *  are  reduced 
to  the  alternative  of  chusing  an  unconditional  submission  to  the 
tyranny  of  irritated  ministers,  or  resistance  by  force.  —  The  latter 
is  our  choice.  —  We  have  counted  the  cost  of  this  contest,  and 
find  nothing  so  dreadful  as  voluntary  slavery.  —  Honour,  justice, 
and  humanity,  forbid  us  tamely  to  surrender  that  freedom  which 
we  received  from  our  gallant  ancestors,  and  which  our  innocent 
posterity  have  a  right  to  receive  from  us.  We  cannot  endure  the 
infamy  and  guilt  of  resigning  succeeding  generations  to  that 
wretchedness  which  inevitably  awaits  them,  if  we  basely  entail 
hereditary  bondage  upon  them. 

Our  cause  is  just.  Our  union  is  perfect.  Our  internal  re 
sources  are  great,  and,  if  necessary,  foreign  assistance  is  undoubt 
edly  attainable.  —  We  gratefully  acknowledge,  as  signal  instances 
of  the  Divine  favour  towards  us,  that  his  Providence  would  not 
permit  us  to  be  called  into  this  severe  controversy,  until  we  were 
grown  up  to  our  present  strength,  had  been  previously  exercised 
in  warlike  operation,  and  possessed  of  the  means  of  defending 
ourselves.  With  hearts  fortified  with  these  animating  reflections, 
we  most  solemnly,  before  God  and  the  world,  declare,  that,  exert- 

1  From  this  point  the  declaration  follows  Jefferson's  draft  — ED. 


1775]  DECLARATION   OF   CAUSES  183 

ing  the  utmost  energy  of  those  powers,  which  our  beneficent 
Creator  hath  graciously  bestowed  upon  us,  the  arms  we  have  been 
compelled  by  our  enemies  to  assume,  we  will,  in  defiance  of 
every  hazard,  with  unabating  firmness  and  perseverence,  employ 
for  the  preservation  of  our  liberties;  being  with  one  mind  re 
solved  to  die  freemen  rather  then  to  live  slaves. 

Lest  this  declaration  should  disquiet  the  minds  of  our  friends 
and  fellow-subjects  in  any  part  of  the  empire,  we  assure  them 
that  we  mean  not  to  dissolve  that  union  which  has  so  long  and  so 
happily  subsisted  between  us,  and  which  we  sincerely  wish  to  see 
restored.  —  Necessity  has  not  yet  driven  us  into  that  desperate 
measure,  or  induced  us  to  excite  any  other  nation  to  war  against 
them.  —  We  have  not  raised  armies  with  ambitious  designs  of 
separating  from  Great-Britain,  and  establishing  independent 
states.  We  fight  not  for  glory  or  for  conquest.  We  exhibit  to 
mankind  the  remarkable  spectacle  of  a  people  attacked  by  unpro 
voked  enemies,  without  any  imputation  or  even  suspicion  of 
offence.  They  boast  of  their  privileges  and  civilization,  and  yet 
proffer  no  milder  conditions  than  servitude  or  death. 

In  our  own  native  land,  in  defence  of  the  freedom  that  is  our 
birth-right,  and  which  we  ever  enjoyed  till  the  late  violation  of 
it  —  for  the  protection  of  our  property,  acquired  solely  by  the 
honest  industry  of  our  fore-fathers  and  ourselves,  against  violence 
actually  offered,  we  have  taken  up  arms.  We  shall  lay  them 
down  when  hostilities  shall  cease  on  the  part  of  the  aggressors, 
and  all  danger  of  their  being  renewed  shall  be  removed,  and  not 
before. 

With  an  humble  confidence  in  the  mercies  of  the  supreme  and 
impartial  Judge  and  Ruler  of  the  Universe,  we  most  devoutly 
implore  his  divine  goodness  to  protect  us  happily  through  this 
great  conflict,  to  dispose  our  adversaries  to  reconciliation  on 
reasonable  terms,  and  thereby  to  relieve  the  empire  from  the 
calamities  of  civil  war. 


184  REPORT   ON   LORD   NORTH'S   RESOLUTION     [July  31 

No.  48.     Report  on   Lord   North's  Concilia 
tory  Resolution 

July  31,  1775 

LORD  NORTH'S  offer  of  conciliation  came  before  the  Continental  Congress 
May  26,  1775,  in  the  form  of  a  communication  from  the  assembly  of  New 
Jersey;  it  was  also  transmitted  later  by  the  assemblies  of  Pennsylvania  and 
Virginia.  A  memorandum  from  Lord  North,  written  by  Grey  Cooper,  under 
secretary  of  the  treasury,  urging  acceptance  of  the  proffered  terms,  was  sub 
mitted  May  30.  July  22,  the  declaration  of  causes  and  other  papers  having 
been  disposed  of,  Franklin,  Jefferson,  John  Adams,  and  Richard  Henry  Lee 
were  appointed  a  committee  to  consider  and  report  on  the  resolution.  The 
report,  drawn  by  Jefferson  on  the  lines  of  a  report  of  the  Virginia  House  of 
Burgesses,  June  10,  on  the  same  resolution,  was  brought  in  July  25,  and,  on 
the  3ist,  agreed  to. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Journals  of  Congress  (ed.  1800),  I.,  175-178. 
The  Virginia  report  is  in  Force's  American  Archives,  Fourth  Series,  II., 
1200-1202. 

[The  report  recites  the  resolution  of  Lord  North,  and  con 
tinues:] 

The  Congress  took  the  said  resolution  into  consideration,  and 
are,  thereupon,  of  opinion, 

That  the  colonies  of  America  are  entitled  to  the  sole  and  exclu 
sive  privilege  of  giving  and  granting  their  own  money:  that  this 
involves  a  right  of  deliberating  whether  they  will  make  any  gift 
for  what  purposes  it  shall  be  made,  and  what  shall  be  its  amount ; 
and  that  it  is  a  high  breach  of  this  privilege  for  any  body  of  men, 
extraneous  to  their  constitutions,  to  prescribe  the  purposes  for 
which  money  shall  be  levied  on  them,  to  take  to  themselves  the 
authority  of  judging  of  their  conditions,  circumstances  and  situa 
tions,  and  of  determining  the  amount  of  the  contribution  to  be 
levied.  .  . 

That  as  the  colonies  possess  a  right  of  appropriating  their  gifts, 
so  are  they  entitled  at  all  times  to  enquire  into  their  application, 
to  see  that  they  be  not  wasted  among  the  venal  and  corrupt  for 
the  purpose  of  undermining  the  civil  rights  of  the  givers,  nor  yet 
be  diverted  to  the  support  of  standing  armies,  inconsistent  with 
their  freedom  and  subversive  of  their  quiet.  To  propose,  there 
fore,  as  this  resolution  does,  that  the  monies  given  by  the  colo- 


1775]         REPORT   ON   LORD   NORTH'S   RESOLUTION  185 

nies  shall  be  subject  to  the  disposal  of  parliament  alone,  is  to 
propose  that  they  shall  relinquish  this  right  of  enquiry,  and  put 
it  in  the  power  of  others  to  render  their  gifts  ruinous,  in  propor 
tion  as  they  are  liberal. 

That  this  privilege  of  giving  or  of  withholding  our  monies,  is 
an  important  barrier  against  the  undue  exertion  of  prerogative, 
which,  if  left  altogether  without  controul,  may  be  exercised  to  our 
great  oppression;  and  all  history  shows  how  efficacious  is  its 
intercessions  for  redress  of  grievances  and  re-establishment  of 
rights,  and  how  improvident  it  would  be  to  part  with  so  powerful 
a  mediator. 

We  are  of  opinion  that  the  proposition  contained  in  this  reso 
lution  is  unreasonable  and  insidious:  Unreasonable,  because, 
if  we  declare  we  accede  to  it,  we  declare,  without  reservation, 
we  will  purchace  the  favour  of  parliament,  not  knowing  at  the 
same  time  at  what  price  they  will  please  to  estimate  their  favour; 
it  is  insidious,  because,  individual  colonies,  having  bid  and  bidden 
again,  till  they  find  the  avidity  of  the  seller  too  great  for  all  their 
powers  to  satisfy;  are  then  to  return  into  opposition,  divided 
from  their  sister  colonies  whom  the  minister  will  have  previously 
detached  by  a  grant  of  easier  terms,  or  by  an  artful  procrastination 
of  a  definitive  answer. 

That  the  suspension  of  the  exercise  of  their  pretended  power 
of  taxation  being  expressly  made  commensurate  with  the  con 
tinuance  of  our  gifts,  these  must  be  perpetual  to  make  that  so. 
Whereas  no  experience  has  shewn  that  a  gift  of  perpetual  revenue 
secures  a  perpetual  return  of  duty  or  of  kind  disposition.  On 
the  contrary,  the  parliament  itself,  wisely  attentive  to  this  obser 
vation,  are  in  the  established  practice  of  granting  their  supplies 
from  year  to  year  only. 

Desirous  and  determined,  as  we  are,  to  consider,  in  the  most 
dispassionate  view,  every  seeming  advance  towards  a  reconcilia 
tion  made  by  the  British  parliament,  let  our  brethren  of  Britain 
reflect,  what  would  have  been  the  sacrifice  to  men  of  free  spirits, 
had  even  fair  terms  been  proffered,  as  these  insidious  proposals 
were  with  circumstances  of  insult  and  defiance.  A  proposition 
to  give  our  money,  accompanied  with  large  fleets  and  armies, 
seems  addressed  to  our  fears  rather  than  to  our  freedom.  With 
what  patience  would  Britons  have  received  articles  of  treaty  from 


l86          REPORT   ON   LORD    NORTH'S    RESOLUTION      [July  31 

any  power  on  earth  when  borne  on  the  point  of  the  bayonet  by 
military  plenipotentiaries  ? 

We  think  the  attempt  unnecessary  to  raise  upon  us  by  force  or 
by  threats  our  proportional  contributions  to  the  common  defence, 
when  all  know,  and  themselves  acknowledge,  we  have  fully  con 
tributed,  whenever  called  upon  to  do  so  in  the  character  of  free 
men. 

We  are  of  opinion  it  is  not  just  that  the  colonies  should  be 
required  to  oblige  themselves  to  other  contributions,  while  Great- 
Britain  possesses  a  monopoly  of  their  trade.  This  of  itself  lays 
them  under  heavy  contribution.  To  demand,  therefore,  addi 
tional  aids  in  the  form  of  a  tax,  is  to  demand  the  double  of  their 
equal  proportion:  if  we  are  to  contribute  equally  with  the  other 
parts  of  the  empire,  let  us  equally  with  them  enjoy  free  commerce 
with  the  whole  world.  But  while  the  restrictions  on  our  trade 
shut  to  us  the  resources  of  wealth,  is  it  just  we  should  bear  all 
other  burthens  equally  with  those  to  whom  every  resource  is  open  ? 

We  conceive  that  the  British  parliament  has  no  right  to  inter 
meddle  with  our  provisions  for  the  support  of  civil  government, 
or  administration  of  justice.  The  provisions  we  have  made,  are 
such  as  please  ourselves,  and  are  agreeable  to  our  own  circum 
stances:  They  answer  the  substantial  purposes  of  government 
and  of  justice,  and  other  purposes  than  these  should  not  be  an 
swered.  We  do  not  mean  that  our  people  shall  be  burthened 
with  oppressive  taxes,  to  provide  sinecures  for  the  idle  or  the 
wicked,  under  colour  of  providing  for  a  civil  list.  While  parlia 
ment  pursue  their  plan  of  civil  government  within  their  own 
jurisdiction,  we  also  hope  to  pursue  ours  without  molestation. 

We  are  of  opinion  the  proposition  is  altogether  unsatisfactory, 
because  it  imports  only  a  suspension  of  the  mode,  not  a  renuncia 
tion  of  the  pretended  right  to  tax  us:  because,  too,  it  does  not 
propose  to  repeal  the  several  acts  of  parliament  passed  for  the 
purposes  of  restraining  the  trade,  and  altering  the  form  of  gov 
ernment  of  one  of  our  colonies:  extending  the  boundaries  and 
changing  the  government  of  Quebec;  enlarging  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  courts  of  admiralty  and  vice-admiralty ;  taking  from  us  the 
rights  of  trial  by  a  jury  of  the  vicinage,  in  cases  affecting  both 
life  and  property;  transporting  us  into  other  countries  to  be  tried 
for  criminal  offences;  exempting,  by  mock-trial,  the  murderers 


1775  REPORT   ON   LORD   NORTH'S   RESOLUTION  187 

of  colonists  from  punishment;  and  quartering  soldiers  on  us  in 
times  of  profound  peace.  Nor  do  they  renounce  the  power  of 
suspending  our  own  legislatures,  and  for  [of]  legislating  for  us 
themselves  in  all  cases  whatsoever.  On  the  contrary,  to  shew 
they  mean  to  [no]  discontinuance  of  injury,  they  pass  acts,  at 
the  very  time  of  holding  out  this  proposition,  for  restraining  the 
commerce  and  fisheries  of  the  provinces  of  New-England,  and 
for  interdicting  the  trade  of  other  colonies  with  all  foreign  nations, 
and  with  each  other.  This  proves,  unequivocally,  they  mean  not 
to  relinquish  the  exercise  of  indiscriminate  legislation  over  us. 

Upon  the  whole,  this  proposition  seems  to  have  been  held  up 
to  the  world,  to  deceive  it  into  a  belief  that  there  was  nothing  in 
dispute  between  us  but  the  mode  of  levying  taxes;  and  that  the 
parliament  having  now  been  so  good  as  to  give  up  this,  the  colo 
nies  are  unreasonable  if  not  perfectly  satisfied:  Whereas,  in 
truth,  our  adversaries  still  claim  a  right  of  demanding  ad  libitum, 
and  of  taxing  us  themselves  to  the  full  amount  of  their  demand, 
if  we  do  comply  with  it.  This  leaves  us  without  any  thing  we 
can  call  property.  But,  what  is  of  more  importance,  and  what 
in  this  proposal  they  keep  out  of  sight,  as  if  no  such  point  was 
now  in  contest  between  us,  they  claim  a  right  to  alter  our  charters 
and  establish  laws,  and  leave  us  without  any  security  for  our  lives 
and  liberties.  The  proposition  seems  also  to  have  been  calculated 
more  particularly  to  lull  into  fatal  security,  our  well-affected 
fellow-subjects  on  the  other  side  the  water,  till  time  should  be 
given  for  the  operation  of  those  arms,  which  a  British  minister 
pronounced  would  instantaneously  reduce  the  "cowardly"  sons 
of  America  to  unreserved  submission.  But,  when  the  world 
reflects,  how  inadequate  to  justice  are  these  vaunted  terms;  when 
it  attends  to  the  rapid  and  bold  succession  of  injuries,  which, 
during  the  course  of  eleven  years,  have  been  aimed  at  these 
colonies;  when  it  reviews  the  pacific  and  respectful  expostula 
tions,  which,  during  that  whole  time,  were  the  sole  arms  we 
opposed  to  them;  when  it  observes  that  our  complaints  were 
either  not  heard  at  all,  or  were  answered  with  new  and  accumu 
lated  injuries;  when  it  recollects  that  the  minister  himself,  on 
an  early  occasion,  declared,  "that  he  would  never  treat  with 
America,  till  he  had  brought  her  to  his  feet,"  and  that  an  avowed 
partisan  of  ministry  has  more  lately  denounced  against  us  the 


1 88  PROCLAMATION   OF   REBELLION  [August  23 

dreadful  sentence,  "delenda  est  Carthago;"'  that  this  was  done 
in  presence  of  a  British  senate,  and  being  unreproved  by  them, 
must  be  taken  to  be  their  own  sentiment,  (especially  as  the  pur 
pose  has  already  in  part  been  carried  into  execution,  by  their 
treatment  of  Boston  and  burning  of  Charlestown ;)  when  it  con 
siders  the  great  armaments  with  which  they  have  invaded  us,  and 
the  circumstances  of  cruelty  with  which  these  have  commenced 
and  prosecuted  hostilities;  when  these  things,  we  say,  are  laid 
together  and  attentively  considered,  can  the  world  be  deceived 
into  an  opinion  that  we  are  unreasonable,  or  can  it  hesitate  to 
believe  with  us,  that  nothing  but  our  own  exertions  may  defeat 
the  ministerial  sentence  of  death  or  abject  submission. 


No.  49.    Proclamation  of  Rebellion 

August  23,  1775 

THE  party  in  Congress  which  still  hoped  for  reconciliation  succeeded,  June 
3,  1775,  in  passing  a  resolution  for  the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  prepare 
a  petition  to  the  King;  and  Dickinson,  Johnson,  John  Rutledge,  Jay,  and 
Franklin  were  chosen  by  ballot  as  the  members  of  the  committee.  The 
petition,  drafted  by  Dickinson,  was  reported  June  19,  taken  up  for  considera 
tion  July  4,  and  the  following  day  agreed  to.  On  the  8th  the  engrossed  copy 
was  signed  by  the  members  present.  The  petition,  together  with  other  ad 
dresses  adopted  by  the  Congress,  was  entrusted  to  Richard  Penn,  to  be  carried 
to  England  and  laid  before  the  King.  The  petition  was  the  last  offer  of 
reconciliation  made  by  Congress;  and  the  decision  of  the  question  of  inde 
pendence  was  thought  by  many  to  depend  upon  its  reception.  Already,  in 
January,  before  the  first  petition  had  been  laid  before  Parliament,  the  Privy 
Council  had  decided  that  force  should  be  used  to  suppress  the  rebellion, 
and  that  all  persons  resisting  the  King  should  be  proclaimed  traitors.  The 
attention  of  Parliament,  however,  was  immediately  taken  up  with  the  con 
ciliatory  proposals  of  Chatham,  Burke,  and  Lord  North,  and  the  acts  restrain 
ing  the  trade  of  the  northern  and  southern  colonies;  and  the  proclamation 
was  not  then  issued.  In  the  mean  time,  the  British  and  American  forces  came 
into  collision  at  Lexington,  Concord,  and  Bunker  Hill,  and  Congress  chose 
Washington  as  commander-in-chief  of  the  American  army.  The  news  of 
these  proceedings  fixed  the  determination  of  the  King,  and  he  ordered  the 
proclamation  to  be  drawn  up.  On  the  23d  of  August,  the  day  on  which 
Richard  Penn  and  Arthur  Lee  were  to  have  presented  the  "olive  branch" 
petition  to  Lord  Dartmouth,  the  proclamation  was  issued.  The  petition 
was  handed  to  Lord  Dartmouth  September  i,  but  the  colonial  representa- 


1775]  PROCLAMATION   OF   REBELLION  189 

tives  were  refused  an  audience  with  the  King,  and  were  finally  informed  that 
no  answer  would  be  given.  The  news  of  the  rejection  of  the  petition  reached 
America  October  31.  November  3,  Congress  recommended  the  people  of 
New  Hampshire  to  establish  a  form  of  government.  December  6,  a  formal 
report  on  the  proclamation  was  agreed  to,  in  which,  after  repudiating  the 
charge  of  treason,  Congress  declared  that  "whatever  punishment  shall  be 
inflicted  upon  any  persons  in  the  power  of  our  enemies,  for  favouring,  aiding, 
or  abetting  the  cause  of  American  liberty,  shall  be  retaliated  in  the  same  kind, 
and  the  same  degree,  upon  those  in  our  power,  who  have  favoured,  aided,  or 
abetted,  or  shall  favour,  aid,  or  abet  the  system  of  ministerial  oppression." 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Force's  American  Archives,  Fourth  Series,  III., 
240,  241.  The  report  of  December  6  is  in  the  Journals  of  Congress  (ed.  1800, 
I.,  263-265;  Ford's  ed.,  III.,  409-412).  The  best  account  of  events  is  in 
Frothingham's  Rise  of  the  Republic,  chap.  10.  The  petition  of  July  b  is  in 
MacDonald's  Select  Charters,  No.  77. 

GEORGE  R. 

Whereas  many  of  our  subjects  in  divers  parts  of  our  Colonies 
and  Plantations  in  North  America,  misled  by  dangerous  and  ill 
designing  men,  and  forgetting  the  allegiance  which  they  owe  to 
the  power  that  has  protected  and  supported  them;  after  various 
disorderly  acts  committed  in  disturbance  of  the  publick  peace, 
to  the  obstruction  of  lawful  commerce,  and  to  the  oppression  of 
our  loyal  subjects  carrying  on  the  same ;  have  at  length  proceeded 
to  open  and  avowed  rebellion,  by  arraying  themselves  in  a  hostile 
manner,  to  withstand  the  execution  of  the  law,  and  traitorously 
preparing,  ordering  and  levying  war  against  us:  And  whereas, 
there  is  reason  to  apprehend  that  such  rebellion  hath  been  much 
promoted  and  encouraged  by  the  traitorous  correspondence, 
counsels  and  comfort  of  divers  wicked  and  desperate  persons 
within  this  realm:  To  the  end  therefore,  that  none  of  our  sub 
jects  may  neglect  or  violate  their  duty  through  ignorance  thereof, 
or  through  any  doubt  of  the  protection  which  the  law  will  afford 
to  their  loyalty  and  zeal,  we  have  thought  fit,  by  and  with  the 
advice  of  our  Privy  Council,  to  issue  our  Royal  Proclamation, 
hereby  declaring,  that  not  only  all  our  Officers,  civil  and  military, 
are  obliged  to  exert  their  utmost  endeavours  to  suppress  such 
rebellion,  and  to  bring  the  traitors  to  justice,  but  that  all  our 
subjects  of  this  Realm,  and  the  dominions  thereunto  belonging, 
are  bound  by  law  to  be  aiding  and  assisting  in  the  suppression  of 
such  rebellion,  and  to  disclose  and  make  known  all  traitorous 
conspiracies  and  attempts  against  us,  our  crown  and  dignity ;  and 


190  DECLARATION   OF  INDEPENDENCE  [July  4 

we  do  accordingly  strictly  charge  and  command  all  our  Officers, 
as  well  civil  as  military,  and  all  others  our  obedient  and  loyal 
subjects,  to  use  their  utmost  endeavours  to  withstand  and  suppress 
such  rebellion,  and  to  disclose  and  make  known  all  treasons  and 
traitorous  conspiracies  which  they  shall  know  to  be  against  us, 
our  crown  and  dignity;  and  for  that  purpose,  that  they  transmit 
to  one  of  our  principal  Secretaries  of  State,  or  other  proper  offi 
cer,  due  and  full  information  of  all  persons  who  shall  be  found 
carrying  on  correspondence  with,  or  in  any  manner  or  degree 
aiding  or  abetting  the  persons  now  in  open  arms  and  rebellion 
against  our  Government,  within  any  of  our  Colonies  and  Planta 
tions  in  North  America,  in  order  to  bring  to  condign  punishment 
the  authors,  prepetrators,  and  abetters  of  such  traitorous  designs. 
Given  at  our  Court  at  St.  James's  the  twenty-third  day  of 
August,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-five,  in  the 
fifteenth  year  of  our  reign. 

GOD  save  the  KING. 


No.  50.   Declaration  of  Independence 

July  4,  1776 

JUNE  7,  1776,  Richard  Henry  Lee  of  Virginia  submitted  to  the  Continental 
Congress  three  resolutions,  the  first  of  which  declared  "That  these  United 
Colonies  are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be,  free  and  independent  States,  that  they 
are  absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  the  British  Crown,  and  that  all  political 
connection  between  them  and  the  State  of  Great  Britain  is,  and  ought  to  be, 
totally  dissolved."  The  resolutions  were  seconded  by  John  Adams,  and  on 
the  loth  a  committee,  consisting  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  John  Adams,  Benjamin 
Franklin,  Roger  Sherman,  and  Robert  R.  Livingstone,  was  appointed  "to 
prepare  a  declaration  to  the  effect  of  the  said  first  resolution."  On  the  28th 
the  committee  brought  in  a  draft  of  a  declaration  of  independence.  The  reso 
lution  previously  submitted  was  adopted  July  2;  on  the  4th  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  was  agreed  to,  and  signed  by  John  Hancock  as  president  of  the 
Congress.  Congress  directed  that  copies  be  sent  "  to  the  several  Assemblies, 
Conventions,  and  Committees  or  Councils  of  Safety,  and  to  the  several  com 
manding  officers  of  the  continental  troops;  that  it  be  proclaimed  in  each  of 
the  United  States,  and  at  the  head  of  the  army."  The  members  of  Congress 
signed  the  Declaration  August  2. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Revised  Statutes  (ed.  1878).  There  are  many 
reprints.  A  facsimile  of  the  engrossed  copy  is  in  Force's  American  Archives, 


1776]  DECLARATION   OF   INDEPENDENCE  191 

series  V.,  vol.  I.,  at  p.  1597;  a  printed  copy  showing  Jefferson's  original 
draft  and  the  changes  made  by  Congress  is  in  the  Madison  Papers,  I.,  19-27. 
The  Journal  of  Congress  (ed.  1800,  II.;  Ford's  ed.,  V.)  gives  the  proceedings; 
Jefferson's  notes  of  the  debates  are  in  the  Madison  Papers,  I.  Bancroft's 
United  States  (ed.  1860),  VIII.,  chaps.  69,  70,  gives  abstracts  of  speeches 
in  Congress,  and  a  discussion  of  the  Declaration  itself. 

In  Congress,  July  4,  1776, 

THE  UNANIMOUS  DECLARATION  OF  THE  THIRTEEN  UNITED  STATES 
OF  AMERICA, 

WHEN  in  the  Course  of  human  events,  it  becomes  necessary  for 
one  people  to  dissolve  the  political  bands  which  have  connected 
them  with  another,  and  to  assume  among  the  Powers  of  the  earth, 
the  separate  and  equal  station  to  which  the  Laws  of  Nature  and 
of  Nature's  God  entitle  them,  a  decent  respect  to  the  opinions  of 
mankind  requires  that  they  should  declare  the  causes  which  impel 
them  to  the  separation. 

We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident,  that  all  men  are  created 
equal,  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  un- 
alienable  Rights,  that  among  these  are  Life,  Liberty  and  the  pur 
suit  of  Happiness.  That  to  secure  these  rights,  Governments  are 
instituted  among  Men,  deriving  their  just  powers  from  the  consent 
of  the  governed,  That  whenever  any  Form  of  Government  becomes 
destructive  of  these  ends,  it  is  the  Right  of  the  People  to  alter  or 
to  abolish  it,  and  to  institute  new  Government,  laying  its  founda 
tion  on  such  principles  and  organizing  its  powers  in  such  form,  &s 
to  them  shall  seem  most  likely  to  effect  their  Safety  and  Happi 
ness.  Prudence,  indeed,  will  dictate  that  Governments  long  es 
tablished  should  not  be  changed  for  light  and  transient  causes; 
and  accordingly  all  experience  hath  shown,  that  mankind  are  more 
disposed  to  suffer,  while  evils  are  sufferable,  than  to  right  them 
selves  by  abolishing  the  forms  to  which  they  are  accustomed.  But 
when  a  long  train  of  abuses  and  usurpations,  pursuing  invariably 
the  same  Object  evinces  a  design  to  reduce  them  under  absolute 
Despotism,  it  is  their  right,  it  is  their  duty,  to  throw  off  such 
Government,  and  to  provide  new  Guards  for  their  future  security. 
—  Such  has  been  the  patient  sufferance  of  these  Colonies ;  and  such 
is  now  the  necessity  which  constrains  them  to  alter  their  former 


192  DECLARATION    OF   INDEPENDENCE  [July  4 

Systems  of  Government.  The  history  of  the  present  King  of  Great 
Britain  is  a  history  of  repeated  injuries  and  usurpations,  all  having 
in  direct  object  the  establishment  of  an  absolute  Tyranny  over  these 
States.  To  prove  this,  let  Facts  be  submitted  to  a  candid  world. 

He  has  refused  his  Assent  to  Laws,  the  most  wholesome  and 
necessary  for  the  public  good. 

He  has  forbidden  his  Governors  to  pass  Laws  of  immediate  and 
pressing  importance,  unless  suspended  in  their  operation  till  his 
Assent  should  be  obtained;  and  when  so  suspended,  he  has 
utterly  neglected  to  attend  to  them. 

He  has  refused  to  pass  other  Laws  for  the  accommodation  of 
large  districts  of  people,  unless  those  people  would  relinquish  the 
right  of  Representation  in  the  Legislature,  a  right  inestimable  to 
them  and  formidable  to  tyrants  only. 

He  has  called  together  legislative  bodies  at  places  unusual, 
uncomfortable,  and  distant  from  the  depository  of  their  Public 
Records,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  fatiguing  them  into  compliance 
with  his  measures. 

He  has  dissolved  Representative  Houses  repeatedly,  for  oppos 
ing  with  manly  firmness  his  invasions  on  the  rights  of  the  people. 

He  has  refused  for  a  long  time,  after  such  dissolutions,  to  cause 
others  to  be  elected;  whereby  the  Legislative  Powers,  incapable 
of  Annihilation,  have  returned  to  the  People  at  large  for  their 
exercise;  the  State  remaining  in  the  mean  time  exposed  to  all 
the  dangers  of  invasion  from  without,  and  convulsions  within. 

He  has  endeavoured  to  prevent  the  population  of  these  States; 
for  that  purpose  obstructing  the  Laws  of  Naturalization  of  For 
eigners;  refusing  to  pass  others  to  encourage  their  migration 
lither,  and  raising  the  conditions  of  new  Appropriations  of  Lands. 

He  has  obstructed  the  Administration  of  Justice,  by  refusing  his 
Assent  to  Laws  for  establishing  Judiciary  Powers. 

He  has  made  Judges  dependent  on  his  Will  alone,  for  the  tenure 
of  their  offices,  and  the  amount  and  payment  of  their  salaries. 

He  has  erected  a  multitude  of  New  Offices,  and  sent  hither 
swarms  of  Officers  to  harass  our  People,  and  eat  out  their  substance. 

He  has  kept  among  us,  in  times  of  peace,  Standing  Armies 
without  the  Consent  of  our  legislature. 

He  has  affected  to  render  the  Military  independent  of  and 
superior  to  the  Civil  Power. 


1776]  DECLARATION    OF   INDEPENDENCE  193 

He  has  combined  with  others  to  subject  us  to  a  jurisdiction 
foreign  to  our  constitution,  and  unacknowledged  by  our  laws; 
giving  his  Assent  to  their  acts  of  pretended  legislation: 

For  quartering  large  bodies  of  armed  troops  among  us : 

For  protecting  them,  by  a  mock  Trial,  from  Punishment  for  any 
Murders  which  they  should  commit  on  the  Inhabitants  of  these 
States: 

For  cutting  off  our  Trade  with  all  parts  of  the  world : 

For  imposing  taxes  on  us  without  our  Consent : 

For  depriving  us  in  many  cases,  of  the  benefits  of  Trial  by  Jury: 

For  transporting  us  beyond  Seas  to  be  tried  for  pretended 
offences : 

For  abolishing  the  free  System  of  English  Laws  in  a  neighbour 
ing  Province,  establishing  therein  an  Arbitrary  government,  and 
enlarging  its  Boundaries  so  as  to  render  it  at  once  an  example  and 
fit  instrument  for  introducing  the  same  absolute  rule  into  these 
Colonies : 

_  For  taking  away  our  Charters,  abolishing  mir  mrmt  valuable 
Laws,  and  altering  fnndampn tally  thp  FQrm<  Of  our  Governments : 

For  susppnrh'np;  our  own  Legislature1  and  declaring;  themselves 
invested  with  Power  to  legislate  for  us  in  all  cases  whatsoever. 

He  has  abdicated  Government  here,  by  declaring  us  out  of  his 
Protection  and  waging  War  against  us. 

He  has  plundered  our  seas,  ravaged  our  Coasts,  burnt  our 
towns,  and  destroyed  the  lives  of  our  people. 

He  is  at  this  time  transporting  large  armies  of  foreign  merce 
naries  to  compleat  the  works  of  death,  desolation  and  tyranny, 
already  begun  with  circumstances  of  Cruelty  &  perfidy  scarcely 
paralleled  in  the  most  barbarous  ages,  and  totally  unworthy  the 
Head  of  a  civilized  nation. 

He  has  constrained  our  fellow  Citizens  taken  Captive  on  the 
high  Seas  to  bear  Arms  against  their  Country,  to  become  the 
executioners  of  their  friends  and  Brethren,  or  to  fall  themselves 
by  their  Hands. 

He  has  excited  domestic  insurrections  amongst  us,  and  has 
endeavoured  to  bring  on  the  inhabitants  of  our  frontiers,  the 
merciless  Indian  Savages,  whose  known  rule  of  warfare,  is  an 
undistinguished  destruction  of  all  ages,  sexes  and  conditions. 

In  every  stage  of  these  Oppressions  We  have  Petitioned  for 


194  DECLARATION   OF   INDEPENDENCE  [July  4 

Redress  in  the  most  humble  terms:  Our  repeated  Petitions  have 
been  answered  only  by  repeated  injury.  A  Prince,  whose  charac 
ter  is  thus  marked  by  every  act  which  may  define  a  Tyrant,  is 
unfit  to  be  the  ruler  of  a  free  People. 

Nor  have  We  been  wanting  in  attention  to  our  Britcish  brethren. 
We  have  warned  them  from  time  to  time  of  attempts  by  their 
legislature  to  extend  an  unwarrantable  jurisdiction  over  us.  We 
have  reminded  them  of  the  circumstances  of  our  emigration  and 
settlement  here.  We  have  appealed  to  their  native  justice  and 
magnanimity,  and  we  have  conjured  them  by  the  ties  of  our  com 
mon  kindred  to  disavow  these  usurpations,  which,  would  inevitably 
interrupt  our  connections  and  correspondence.  They  too  have 
been  deaf  to  the  voice  of  justice  and  of  consanguinity.  We  must, 
therefore,  acquiesce  in  the  necessity,  which  denounces  our  Sepa 
ration,  and  hold  them,  as  we  hold  the  rest  of  mankind,  Enemies 
in  War,  in  Peace  Friends. 

We,  therefore,  the  Representatives  of  the  united  States  of 
America,  in  General  Congress,  Assembled,  appealing  to  the  Su 
preme  Judge  of  the  world  for  the  rectitude  of  our  intentions,  do, 
Un  the  Name,  and  by  Authority  of  the  good  People  of  these  Colo 
nies,  solemnly  publish  and  declare,  That  these  United  Colonies 
are,  and  of  Right  ought  to  be  Free  and  Independent  States;  that 
they  are  Absolved  from  all  Allegiance  to  the  British  Crown,  and 
that  all  political  connection  between  them  and  the  State  of  Great 
Britain,  is  and  ought  to  be  totally  dissolved;  and  that  as  Free 
and  Independent  States,  they  have  full  Power  to  levy  WaM  con 
clude  Peace,  contract  Alliances,  establish  Commerce,  and  to  do 
all  other  Acts  and  Things  which  Independent  States  may  of 
right  do.  And  for  the  support  of  this  Declaration,  with  a  firm 
reliance  on  the  Protection  of  Divine  Providence,  we  mutually 
pledge  to  each  other  our  Lives,  our  Fortunes  and  our  sacred 
Honor. 

JOHN  HANCOCK.1 


1  The  remaining  signatures  are  omitted.  —  ED. 


1776]  ARTICLES   OF  CONFEDERATION  195 


No.  51.     Articles  of  Confederation 

November  15,   1777 

JUNE  n,  1776,  the  Continental  Congress  resolved  "that  a  committee  be 
appointed  to  prepare  and  digest  the  form  of  a  confederation  to  be  entered 
into  between  these  colonies."  The  committee,  consisting  of  one  member 
from  each  of  the  colonies  except  New  Jersey,  was  appointed  the  following 
day.  A  plan  drawn  up  by  John  Dickinson  of  Delaware,  a  member  of  the 
committee,  was  reported  July  12,  considered  in  Committee  of  the  Whole 
House  July  22,  and  debated  at  intervals  until  Nov.  15,  1777,  when,  with  some 
amendments,  it  was  agreed  to.  Congress  directed  that  "  these  articles  shall 
be  proposed  to  the  legislatures  of  all  the  United  States,  to  be  considered,  and 
if  approved  of  by  them,  they  are  advised  to  authorize  their  delegates  to  ratify 
the  same  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States;  which  being  done,  the  same 
shall  become  conclusive."  A  form  of  circular  letter  to  accompany  the  Arti 
cles  was  adopted  Nov.  17;  June  26,  1778,  a  form  of  ratification  was  agreed 
upon.  The  delegates  from  the  several  States  signed  the  Article^as  follows: 
New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts  Bay,  Rhode  Island  and  ProvicWlce  Planta 
tions,  Connecticut,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Virginia  and  South  Carolina, 
July  9,  1778;  North  Carolina,  July  21,  1778;  Georgia,  July  24,  1778;  New 
Jersey,  Nov.  26,  1778;  Delaware,  May  5,  1779;  Maryland,  March  i,  1781. 
Congress  met  under  the  Articles  March  2,  1781. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Revised  Statutes  (ed.  1878).  There  are  numerous 
reprints.  The  proceedings  of  Congress  are  in  the  Journal  (ed.  1800,  II.- 
VII.;  Ford's  ed.,  V.-IX.) ;  Jefferson's  notes  are  in  Elliot's  Debates  (ed.  1836), 
I.,  100-107.  The  circular  letter  accompanying  the  Articles  is  also  in  Elliot, 
I.,  99,  100.  Story's  Commentaries  (ed.  1833),  I.,  217-223,  gives  an  analysis 
of  the  Articles.  . 

To  all  to  whom  these  Presents  shall  come,  we  the  undersigned 
Delegates  of  the  States  affixed  to  our  Names  send  greeting. 

Whereas  the  Delegates  of  the  United  States  of  America  in  Con 
gress  assembled  did  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  November  in  the  year 
of  our  Lord  One  Thousand  Seven  Hundred  and  Seventy-seven, 
and  in  the  Second  Year  of  the  Independence  of  America  agree  to 
certain  articles  of  Confederation  and  perpetual  Union  between 
the  States  of  Newhampshire,  Massachusetts-bay,  Rhodeisland 
and  Providence  Plantations,  Connecticut,  New  York,  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  North- Carolina, 
South-Carolina  and  Georgia  in  the  Words  following,  viz. 

"Articles  of  Confederation  and  perpetual  Union  between  the 
States  of  Newhamshire,  Massachusetts-bay,  Rhodeisland  and 


196  ARTICLES    OF   CONFEDERATION       [November  15 

Providence  Plantations,  Connecticut,  New-York,  New- Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  North-Carolina, 
South-Carolina  and  Georgia. 

ARTICLE  I.  THE  stile  of  this  confederacy  shall  be  "The  United 
States  of  America." 

ARTICLE  II.  EACH  State  retains  its  sovereignty,  freedom  and 
(independence,  and  every  power,  jurisdiction  and  right,  which  is 
mot  by  this  confederation  expressly  delegated  to  the  United  States, 
Jin  Congress  assembled. 

'  ARTICLE  III.  THE  said  States  hereby  severally  enter  into  a  firm 
league  of  friendship  with  each  other,  for  their  common  defence, 
the  security  of  their  liberties,  and  their  mutual  and  general  welfare, 
binding  themselves  to  assist  each  other,  against  all  force  offered 
to,  or  attacks  made  upon  them,  or  any  of  them,  en  account  of 
religion,  sovereignty,  trade,  or  any  other  pretence  whatever. 

ARTICLE  IV.  THE  better  to  secure  and  perpetuate  mutual 
friendshij^and  intercourse  among  the  people  of  the  different 
States  in  this  Union,  the  free  inhabitants  of  each  of  these  States, 
paupers,  vagabonds  and  fugitives  from  justice  excepted,  shall  be 
entitled  to  all  privileges  and  immunities  of  free  citizens  in  the 
several  States;  and  the  people  of  each  State  shall  have  free  in 
gress  and  regress  to  and  from  any  other  State,  and  shall  enjoy 
therein  all  the  privileges  of  trade  and  commerce,  subject  to  the 
same  duties,  impositions  and  restrictions  as  the  inhabitants  thereof 
respectively,  provided  that  such  restrictions  shall  not  extend  so 
far  as  to  prevent  the  removal  of  property  imported  into  any 
State,  to  any  other  state  of  which  the  owner  is  an  inhabitant; 
provided  also  that  no  imposition,  duties  or  restriction  shall  be 
laid  by  any  State,  on  the  property  of  the  United  States,  or  either 
of  them. 

IF  any  Person  guilty  of,  or  charged  with  treason,  felony,  or 
other  high  misdemeanor  in  any  State,  shall  flee  from  justice,  and 
be  found  in  any  of  the  United  States,  he  shall  upon  demand  of 
the  Governor  or  Executive  powrer,  of  the  State  from  which  he  fled, 
be  delivered  up  and  removed  to  the  State  having  jurisdiction  of 
his  offence. 

Full  faith  and  credit  shall  be  given  in  each  of  these  States  to 
the  records,  acts  and  judicial  proceedings  of  the  courts  and  magis 
trates  of  every  other  State. 


i777j  ARTICLES    OF   CONFEDERATION  19? 

ARTICLE  V.  FOR  the  more  convenient  management  of  the  gen 
eral  interest  of  the  United  States,  delegates  shall  be  annually 
appointed  in  such  manner  as  the  legislature  of  each  State  shall 
direct,  to  meet  in  Congress  on  the  first  Monday  in  November, 
in  every  year,  with  a  power  reserved  to  each  State,  to  recall  its 
delegates,  cr  any  of  them,  at  any  time  within  the  year,  and  to 
send  others  in  their  stead,  for  the  remainder  of  the  year. 

No  State  shall  be  represented  in  Congress  by  less  than  two,  nor 
by  more  than  seven  members;  and  no  person  shall  be  capable  of 
being  a  delegate  for  more  than  three  years  in  any  term  of  six 
years ;  nor  shall  any  person,  being  a  delegate,  be  capable  of  hold 
ing  any  office  under  the  United  States,  for  which  he,  or  another 
for  his  benefit  receives  any  salary,  fees  or  emolument  of  any  kind. 

Each  State  shall  maintain  its  own  delegates  in  a  meeting  of  the 
States,  and  while  they  act  as  members  of  the  committee  of  the 
States. 

In  determining  questions  in  the  United  States,  in  Congress 
assembled,  each  State  shall  have  one  vote. 

Freedom  of  speech  and  debate  in  Congress  shall  not  be  im 
peached  or  questioned  in  any  court,  or  place  out  of  Congress,  and 
the  members  of  Congress  shall  be  protected  in  their  persons  from 
arrests  and  imprisonments,  during  the  time  of  their  going  to  and 
from,  and  attendance  on  Congress,  except  for  treason,  felony,  or 
breach  of  the  peace. 

ARTICLE  VI.  No  State  without  the  consent  of  the  United  States 
in  Congress  assembled,  shall  send  any  embassy  to,  or  receive  any 
embassy  from,  or  enter  into  any  conference,  agreement,  alliance 
or  treaty  with  any  king,  prince  or  state;  nor  shall  any  person 
holding  any  office  of  profit  or  trust  under  the  United  States,  or 
any  of  them,  accept  of  any  present,  emolument,  office  or  title  of 
any  kind  whatever  from  any  king,  prince  or  foreign  state;  nor 
shall  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  or  any  of  them, 
grant  any  title  of  nobility. 

No  two  or  more  States  shall  enter  into  any  treaty,  confedera 
tion  or  alliance  whatever  between  them,  without  the  consent  of 
the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  specifying  accurately 
the  purposes  for  which  the  same  is  to  be  entered  into,  and  how 
long  it  shall  continue. 

No  State  shall  lay  any  imposts  or  duties,  which  may  interfere 


198  ARTICLES    OF   CONFEDERATION       [November  15 

with  any  stipulations  in  treaties,  entered  into  by  the  United  States 
in  Congress  assembled,  with  any  king,  prince  or  state,  in  pursu 
ance  of  any  treaties  already  proposed  by  Congress,  to  the  courts 
of  France  and  Spain. 

No  vessels  of  war  shall  be  kept  up  in  time  of  peace  by  any 
State,  except  such  number  only,  as  shall  be  deemed  necessary  by 
the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  for  the  defence  of  such 
State,  or  its  trade ;  nor  shall  any  body  of  forces  be  kept  up  by  any 
State,  in  time  of  peace,  except  such  number  only,  as  in  the  judg 
ment  of  the  United  States,  in  Congress  assembled,  shall  be  deemed 
requisite  to  garrison  the  forts  necessary  for  the  defence  of  such 
State ;  but  every  State  shall  always  keep  up  a  well  regulated  and 
disciplined  militia,  sufficiently  armed  and  accoutered,  and  shall 
provide  and  constantly  have  ready  for  use,  in  public  stores,  a  due 
number  of  field  pieces  and  tents,  and  a  proper  quantity  of  arms, 
ammunition  and  camp  equipage. 

No  State  shall  engage  in  any  war  without  the  consent  of  the 
United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  unless  such  State  be  actually 
invaded  by  enemies,  or  shall  have  received  certain  advice  of  a 
resolution  being  formed  by  some  nation  of  Indians  to  invade  such 
State,  and  the  danger  is  so  imminent  as  not  to  admit  of  a  delay, 
till  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled  can  be  consulted: 
nor  shall  any  State  grant  commissions  to  any  ships  or  vessels  of 
war,  nor  letters  of  marque  or  reprisal,  except  it  be  after  a  declara 
tion  of  war  by  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  and  then 
,  only  against  the  kingdom  or  state  and  the  subjects  thereof,  against 
which  war  has  been  so  declared,  and  under  such  regulations  as 
shall  be  established  by  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled, 
unless  such  State  be  infested  by  pirates,  in  which  case  vessels  of 
war  may  be  fitted  out  for  that  occasion,  and  kept  so  long  as  the 
danger  shall  continue,  or  until  the  United  States  in  Congress 
assembled  shall  determine  otherwise. 

ARTICLE  VII.  WHEN  land-forces  are  raised  by  any  State  for 
the  common  defence,  all  officers  of  or  under  the  rank  of  colonel, 
shall  be  appointed  by  the  Legislature  of  each  State, respectively  by 
whom  such  forces  shall  be  raised,  or  in  such  manner  as  such  State 
shall  direct,  and  all  vacancies  shall  be  filled  up  by  the  State  which 
first  made  the  appointment. 

ARTICLE  VIII.     ALL  charges  of  war,  and  all  other  expenses  that 


1777]  ARTICLES   OF   CONFEDERATION  199 

shall  be  incurred  for  the  common  defence  or  general  welfare,  and 
allowed  by  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  shall  be  de 
frayed  out  of  a  common  treasury,  which  shall  be  supplied  by  the 
several  States,  in  proportion  to  the  value  of  all  land  within  each 
State,  granted  to  or  surveyed  for  any  person,  as  such  land  and  the 
buildings  and  improvements  thereon  shall  be  estimated  according 
to  such  mode  as  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  shall 
from  time  to  time  direct  and  appoint. 

The  taxes  for  paying  that  proportion  shall  be  laid  and  levied  by 
the  authority  and  direction  of  the  Legislatures  of  the  several  States 
within  the  time  agreed  upon  by  the  United  States  in  Congress 
assembled. 

ARTICLE  IX.  THE  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  shall 
have  the  sole  and  exclusive  right  and  power  of  determining  on 
peace  and  war,  except  in  the  cases  mentioned  in  the  sixth  article 
—  of  sending  and  receiving  ambassadors  —  entering  into  treaties 
and  alliances,  provided  that  no  treaty  of  commerce  shall  be  made 
whereby  the  legislative  power  of  the  respective  States  shall  be 
restrained  from  imposing  such  imposts  and  duties  on  foreigners, 
as  their  own  people  are  subjected  to,  or  from  prohibiting  the  ex 
portation  or  importation  of  any  species  of  goods  or  commodities 
whatsoever  —  of  establishing  rules  for  deciding  in  all  cases,  what 
captures  on  land  or  water  shall  be  legal,  and  in  what  manner  prizes 
taken  by  land  or  naval  forces  in  the  service  of  the  United  States 
shall  be  divided  or  appropriated  —  of  granting  letters  of  marque 
and  reprisal  in  times  of  peace  —  appointing  courts  for  the  trial  of 
piracies  and  felonies  committed  on  the  high  seas  and  establishing 
courts  for  receiving  and  determining  finally  appeals  in  all  cases  of 
captures,  provided  that  no  member  of  Congress  shall  be  appointed 
a  judge  of  any  of  the  said  courts. 

THE  United  States  in  Congress  assembled  shall  also  be  the  last 
resort  on  appeal  in  all  disputes  and  differences  now  subsisting  or 
that  hereafter  may  arise  between  two  or  more  States  concerning 
boundary,  jurisdiction  or  any  other  cause  whatever;  which  au 
thority  shall  always  be  exercised  in  the  manner  following.  When 
ever  the  legislative  or  executive  authority  or  lawful  agent  of  any 
State  in  controversy  with  another  shall  present  a  petition  to  Con 
gress,  stating  the  matter  in  question  and  praying  for  a  hearing, 
notice  thereof  shall  be  given  by  order  of  Congress  to  the  legisla- 


200  ARTICLES   OF   CONFEDERATION       [November  15 

tive  or  executive  authority  of  the  other  State  in  controversy,  and 
a  day  assigned  for  the  appearance  of  the  parties  by  their  lawful 
agents,  who  shall  then  be  directed  to  appoint  by  joint  consent, 
commissioners  or  judges  to  constitute  a  court  for  hearing  and 
determining  the  matter  in  question:  but  if  they  cannot  agree, 
Congress  shall  name  three  persons  out  of  each  of  the  United 
States,  and  from  the  list  of  such  persons  each  party  shall  alter 
nately  strike  out  one,  the  petitioners  beginning,  until  the  number 
shall  be  reduced  to  thirteen;  and  from  that  number  not  less  than 
seven,  nor  more  than  nine  names  as  Congress  shall  direct,  shall  in 
the  presence  of  Congress  be  drawn  out  by  lot,  and  the  persons 
whose  names  shall  be  so  drawn  or  any  five  or  them,  shall  be  com 
missioners  or  judges,  to  hear  and  finally  determine  the  contro 
versy,  so  always  as  a  major  part  of  the  judges  who  shall  hear  the 
cause  shall  agree  in  the  determination :  and  if  either  party  shall 
neglect  to  attend  at  the  day  appointed,  without  showing  reasons, 
wThich  Congress  shall  judge  sufficient,  or  being  present  shall  refuse 
to  strike,  the  Congress  shall  proceed  to  nominate  three  persons 
out  of  each  State,  and  the  Secretary  of  Congress  shall  strike  in 
behalf  of  such  party  absent  or  refusing;  and  the  judgment  and 
sentence  of  the  court  to  be  appointed,  in  the  manner  before  pre 
scribed,  shall  be  final  and  conclusive;  and  if  any  of  the  parties 
shall  refuse  to  submit  to  the  authority  of  such  court,  or  to  appear 
r  or  defend  their  claim  or  cause,  the  court  shall  nevertheless  proceed 
to  pronounce  sentence,  or  judgment,  which  shall  in  like  manner 
be  final  and  decisive,  the  judgment  or  sentence  and  other  pro 
ceedings  being  in  either  case  transmitted  to  Congress,  and  lodged 
among  the  acts  of  Congress  for  the  security  of  the  parties  con 
cerned:  provided  that  every  commissioner,  before  he  sits  in 
judgment,  shall  take  an  oath  to  be  administered  by  one  of  the 
judges  of  the  supreme  or  superior  court  of  the  State,  where  the 
cause  shall  be  tried,  "well  and  truly  to  hear  and  determine  the 
matter  in  question,  according  to  the  best  of  his  judgment,  without 

(favour,  affection  or  hope  of  reward:"  provided  also  that  no  State! 
shall  be  deprived  of  territory  for  the  benefit  of  the  United  States.  f 
All  controversies  concerning  the  private  right  of  soil  claimed 
under  different  grants  of  two  or  more  States,  whose  jurisdiction 
as  they  may  respect  such  lands,  and  the  States  which  passed  such 
grants  are  adjusted,  the  said  grants  or  either  of  them  being  at  the 


1777]  ARTICLES   OF  CONFEDERATION  2O1 

same  time  claimed  to  have  originated  antecedent  to  such  settle 
ment  of  jurisdiction,  shall  on  the  petition  of  either  party  to  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  be  finally  determined  as  near  as 
may  be  in  the  same  manner  as  is  before  prescribed  for  deciding 
disputes  respecting  territorial  jurisdiction  between  different  States. 

THE  United  States  in  Congress  assembled  shall  also  have  the 
sole  and  exclusive  right  and  power  of  regulating  the  alloy  and 
value  of  coin  struck  by  their  own  authority,  or  by  that  of  the 
respective  States  —  fixing  the  standard  of  weights  and  measures 
throughout  the  United  States  —  regulating  the  trade  and  manag 
ing  all  affairs  with  the  Indians,  not  members  of  any  of  the  States, 
provided  that  the  legislative  right  of  any  State  within  its  own  limits 
be  not  infringed  or  violated- — establishing  and  regulating  post- 
offices  from  one  State  to  another,  throughout  all  the  United 
States,  and  exacting  such  postage  on  the  papers  passing  thro'  the 
same  as  may  be  requisite  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  said  office 
—  appointing  all  officers  of  the  land  forces,  in  the  service  of  the 
United  States,  excepting  regimental  officers  —  appointing  all  the 
officers  of  the  naval  forces,  and  commissioning  all  officers  what 
ever  in  the  service  of  the  United  States  —  making  rules  for  the 
government  and  regulation  of  the  said  land  and  naval  forces,  and 
directing  their  operations. 

THE  United  States  in  Congress  assembled  shall  have  authority 
to  appoint  a  committee,  to  sit  in  the  recess  of  Congress,  to  be 
denominated  "a  Committee  of  the  States,"  and  to  consist  of  one 
delegate  from  each  State;  and  to  appoint  such  other  committees 
and  civil  officers  as  may  be  necessary  for  manageing  the  general 
affairs  of  the  United  States  under  their  direction  —  to  appoint  one 
of  their  number  to  preside,  provided  that  no  person  be  allowed  to 
serve  in  the  office  of  president  more  than  one  year  in  any  term  of 
three  years;  to  ascertain  the  necessary  sums  of  money  to  be 
raised  for  the  service  of  the  United  States,  and  to  appropriate  and 
apply  the  same  for  defraying  the  public  expenses  —  to  borrow 
money,  or  emit  bills  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States,  transmit 
ting  every  half  year  to  the  respective  States  an  account  of  the 
sums  of  money  so  borrowed  or  emitted,  —  to  build  and  equip  a 
navy  —  to  agree  upon  the  number  of  land  forces,  and  to  make 
requisitions  from  each  State  for  its  quota,  in  proportion  to  the 
number  of  white  inhabitants  in  such  State;  which  requisition 


202  ARTICLES    OF   CONFEDERATION       [November  15 

shall  be  binding,  and  thereupon  the  Legislature  of  each  State  shaK 
appoint  the  regimental  officers,  raise  the  men  and  cloath,  arm  and 
equip  them  in  a  soldier  like  manner,  at  the  expense  of  the  United 
States;  and  the  officers  and  men  so  cloathed,  armed  and  equipped 
shall  march  to  the  place  appointed,  and  within  the  time  agreed  on 
by  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled:  but  if  the  United 
States  in  Congress  assembled  shall,  on  consideration  of  circum 
stances  judge  proper  that  any  State  should  not  raise  men,  or  should 
raise  a  smaller  number  than  its  quota,  and  that  any  other  State 
should  raise  a  greater  number  of  men  than  the  quota  thereof,  such 
extra  number  shall  be  raised,  officered,  cloathed,  armed  and 
equipped  in  the  same  manner  as  the  quota  of  such  State,  unless 
the  legislature  of  such  State  shall  judge  that  such  extra  number 
cannot  be  safely  spared  out  of  the  same,  in  which  case  they  shall 
raise  officer,  cloath,  arm  and  equip  as  many  of  such  extra  num 
ber  as  they  judge  can  be  safely  spared.  And  the  officers  and  men 
so  cloathed,  armed  and  equipped,  shall  march  to  the  place  ap 
pointed,  and  within  the  time  agreed  on  by  the  United  States  in 
Congress  assembled. 

THE  United  States  in  Congress  assembled  shall  never  engage 
in  a  war,  nor  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal  in  time  of  peace, 
nor  enter  into  any  treaties  or  alliances,  nor  coin  money,  nor  regu 
late  the  value  thereof,  nor  ascertain  the  sums  and  expenses  neces 
sary  for  the  defence  and  welfare  of  the  United  States,  or  any  of 
them,  nor  emit  bills,  nor  borrow  money  on  the  credit  of  the 
United  States,  nor  appropriate  money,  nor  agree  upon  the  num 
ber  of  vessels  of  war,  to  be  built  or  purchased,  or  the  number  of 
land  or  sea  forces  to  be  raised,  nor  appoint  a  commander  in  chief 
of  the  army  or  navy,  unless  nine  States  assent  to  the  same:  nor 
shall  a  question  on  any  other  point,  except  for  adjourning  from 
day  to  day  be  determined,  unless  by  the  votes  of  a  majority  of 
the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled. 

THE  Congress  of  the  United  States  shall  have  power  to  adjourn 
to  any  time  within  the  year,  and  to  any  place  within  the  United 
States,  so  that  no  period  of  adjournment  be  for  a  longer  duration 
than  the  space  of  six  months,  and  shall  publish  the  journal  of  their 
proceedings  monthly,  except  such  parts  thereof  relating  to  treaties, 
alliances  or  military  operations,  as  in  their  judgment  require  se- 
cresy;  and  the  yeas  and  nays  of  the  delegates  of  each  State  on 


1777]  ARTICLES   OF   CONFEDERATION  203 

any  question  shall  be  entered  on  the  journal,  when  it  is  desired 
by  any  delegate;  and  the  delegates  of  a  State,  or  any  of  them, 
at  his  or  their  request  shall  be  furnished  with  a  transcript  of  the 
said  journal,  except  such  parts  as  are  above  excepted,  to  lay  before 
the  Legislatures  of  the  several  States. 

ARTICLE  X.  THE  committee  of  the  States,  or  any  nine  of 
them,  shall  be  authorized  to  execute,  in  the  recess  of  Congress, 
such  of  the  powers  of  Congress  as  the  United  States  in  Congress 
assembled,  by  the  consent  of  mm  States,  shall  from  time  to  time 
think  expedient  to  vest  them  with;  provided  that  no  power  be 
delegated  to  the  said  committee,  for  the  exercise  of  which,  by  the 
articles  of  confederation,  the  voice  of  nine  States  in  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States  assembled  is  requisite. 

ARTICLE  XL  Canada  acceding  to  this  confederation,  and  join 
ing  in  the  measures  of  the  United  States,  shall  be  admitted  into, 
and  entitled  to  all  the  advantages  of  this  Union:  but  no  other 
colony  shall  be  admitted  into  the  same,  unless  such  admission  be 
agreed  to  by  nine  States. 

ARTICLE  XII.  ALL  bills  of  credit  emitted,  monies  borrowed 
and  debts  contracted  by,  or  under  the  authority  of  Congress, 
before  the  assembling  of  the  United  States,  in  pursuance  of  the 
present  confederation,  shall  be  deemed  and  considered  as  a 
charge  against  the  United  States,  for  payment  and  satisfaction 
whereof  the  said  United  States,  and  the  public  faith  are  hereby 
solemnly  pledged. 

ARTICLE  XIII.  EVERY  State  shall  abide  by  the  determinations 
of  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  on  all  questions 
which  by  this  confederation  are  submitted  to  them.  And  the 
articles  of  this  confederation  shall  be  inviolably  observed  by 
every  State,  and  the  Union  shall  be  perpetual;  nor  shall  any 
alteration  at  any  time  hereafter  be  made  in  any  of  them ;  unless 
such  alteration  be  agreed  to  in  a  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
and  be  afterwards  confirmed  by  the  Legislatures  of  every  State. 

And  whereas  it  hath  pleased  the  Great  Governor  of  the  World 
to  incline  the  hearts  of  the  Legislatures  we  respectively  represent 
in  Congress,  to  approve  of,  and  to  authorize  us  to  ratify  the  said 
articles  of  confederation  and  perpetual  union.  Know  ye  that  we 
the  undersigned  delegates,  by  virtue  of  the  power  and  authority 
to  us  given  for  that  purpose,  do  by  these  presents,  in  the  name 


204  TREATY   OF   PARIS  [September  5 

and  in  behalf  of  our  respective  constituents,  fully  and  entirely 
ratify  and  confirm  each  and  every  of  the  said  articles  of  confed 
eration  and  perpetual  union,  and  all  and  singular  the  matters  and 
things  therein  contained:  and  we  do  further  solemnly  plight  and 
engage  the  faith  of  our  respective  constituents,  that  they  shall 
abide  by  the  determinations  of  the  United  States  in  Congress 
assembled,  on  all  questions,  which  by  the  said  confederation  are 
submitted  to  them.  And  that  the  articles  thereof  shall  be  invio 
lably  observed  by  the  States  we  respectively  represent,  and  that 
the  Union  shall  be  perpetual. 

In  witness  whereof  we  have  hereunto  set  our  hands  in  Congress. 
Done  at  Philadelphia  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  the  ninth  day 
of  July  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
seventy-eight,  and  in  the  third  year  of  the  independence  of 
America.1 


No.  52.     Treaty  of  Paris 

September  3,  1783 

CORNWALLIS  surrendered  Oct.  19,  1781.  News  of  the  surrender  reached 
Versailles  Nov.  19,  and  London  Nov.  25,  two  days  before  the  meeting  of  Par 
liament.  March  5,  1 782,  Parliament  passed  an  act  enabling  the  King  to  make 
peace  or  a  truce  until  July  i,  1783.  On  the  2oth  Lord  North  resigned,  and 
the  Rockingham  ministry  came  into  power,  to  be  followed  in  July  by  the  Shel- 
burne  ministry.  England  had  the  task  of  making  peace  with  America, 
France,  Holland,  and  Spain,  a  task  which  was  further  complicated  by  the 
existence  of  alliances  between  France  and  America  and  France  and  Spain, 
and  the  hostility  of  Spain  to  the  United  States.  Notwithstanding  instructions 
from  Congress  "to  be  guided  by  the  wishes  of  the  French  court,"  the  Amer 
ican  commissioners  decided  to  enter  into  separate  negotiations  with  Great 
Britain.  April  15,  1782,  Franklin  received  from  Lord  Shelburne  the  first 
communication  relative  to  a  treaty.  A  provisional  treaty  was  signed  at 
Paris  Nov.  30,  1782,  a  cessation  of  hostilities  being  declared  Jan.  20,  1783. 
The  definitive  treaty,  in  the  same  terms  as  the  provisional  articles,  was  not 
signed  until  Sept.  3,  1783,  the  interval  being  taken  up  with  the  adjustment 
of  peace  between  England  and  France.  Congress  ratified  the  treaty  Jan.  14, 
1784. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U,  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  VIII.,  80-83.  The  diplo 
matic  correspondence  is  given  by  Wharton,  Dipl.  Carres,  of  the  Amer.  Rev., 
V.,  VI.,  and  Sparks,  Dipl.  Carres.,  VI.,  VII.  The  course  of  the  negotiations 

1  The  names  of  the  .signers  are  omitted. — ED. 


1783]  TREATY   OF   PARIS  205 

is  followed  in  detail  by  Wharton,  Digest  of  Intern.  Law  (ed.  1887),  III., 
892-956;  compare  John  Jay,  in  Winsor's  Narrative  and  Critical  History, 
VII.,  89-169,  and  correspondence  of  William  Jay  and  J.  Q.  Adams  in  Mag. 
of  Amer.  Hist.,  III.,  39-45.  There  are  valuable  notes  in  Winsor,  op.  cit., 
VII.,  170-184,  on  fisheries  and  northern  boundaries  under  the  treaty.  Later 
correspondence  regarding  the  non-execution  of  certain  provisions  of  the 
treaty  relative  to  loyalists'  estates  and  the  rights  of  British  creditors  in  United 
States  courts,  is  in  Amer.  State  Papers,  Foreign  Relations,  I.,  188-243. 


ARTICLE  I. 

His  Britannic  Majesty  acknowledges  the  said  United  States, 
viz.  New-Hampshire,  Massachusetts-Bay,  Rhode-Island  and 
Providence  Plantations,  Connecticut,  New- York,  New- Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  North-Carolina, 
South-Carolina,  and  Georgia,  to  be  free,  sovereign  and  inde 
pendent  States;  that  he  treats  with  them  as  such;  and  for  him 
self,  his  heirs  and  successors,  relinquishes  all  claims  to  the 
government,  rjropriety  and  territorial  rights  of  the  same,  and 
every  part  thereof. 

ARTICLE  II. 

And  that  all  disputes  which  might  arise  in  future,  on  the  sub 
ject  of  the  boundaries  of  the  said  United  States,  may  be  pre 
vented,  it  is  hereby  agreed  and  declared,  that  the  following  are, 
and  shall  be  their  boundaries,  viz.  From  the  north-west  angle  of 
Nova-Scotia,  viz.  that  angle  which  is  formed  by  a  line,  drawn  due 
north  from  the  source  of  St.  Croix  river  to  the  Highlands; 
along  the  said  Highlands  which  divide  those  rivers,  that  empty 
themselves  into  the  river  St.  Lawrence,  from  those  which  fall 
into  the  Atlantic  ocean,  to  the  northwesternmost  head  of  Con 
necticut  river,  thence  down  along  the  middle  of  that  river,  to 
the  forty-fifth  degree  of  north  latitude;  from  thence,  by  a  line 
due  west  on  said  latitude,  until  it  strikes  the  river  Iroquois  or 
Cataraquy;  thence  along  the  middle  of  said  river  into  lake 
Ontario,  through  the  middle  of  said  lake  until  it  strikes  the  com 
munication  by  water  between  that  lake  and  lake  Erie;  thence 
along  the  middle  of  said  communication  into  lake  Erie,  through 


206  TREATY   OF  PARIS  [Septembers 

the  middle  of  said  lake  until  it  arrives  at  the  water-communica 
tion  between  that  lake  and  lake  Huron ;  thence  along  the  middle 
of  said  water-communication  into  the  lake  Huron ;  thence  through 
the  middle  of  said  lake  to  the  water-communication  between  that 
lake  and  lake  Superior;  thence  through  lake  Superior  northward 
of  the  isles  Royal  and  Phelipeaux,  to  the  Long  Lake;  thence 
through  the  middle  of  said  Long  Lake,  and  the  water-communi 
cation  between  it  and  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  to  the  said  Lake 
of  the  Woods;  thence  through  the  said  lake  to  the  most  north 
western  point  thereof,  and  from  thence  on  a  due  west  course  to 
I  the  river  Mississippi;  thence  by  a  line  to  be  drawn  along  the 
I  middle  of  the  said  river  Mississippi  until  it  shall  intersect  the 
(  northernmost  part  of  the  thirty-first  degree  of  north  latitude. 
J  South  by  a  line  to  be  drawn  due  east  from  the  determination  of 
the  line  last  mentioned,  in  the  latitude  of  thirty-one  degrees 
north  of  the  Equator,  to  the  middle  of  the  river  Apalachicola  or 
Catahouche ;  thence  along  the  middle  thereof  to  its  junction  with 
the  Flint  river;  thence  strait  to  the  head  of  St.  Mary's  river; 
and  thence  down  along  the  middle  of  St.  Mary's  river  to  the 
Atlantic  ocean.  East  by  a  line  to  be  drawn  along  the  middle 
of  the  river  St.  Croix,  from  its  mouth  in  the  Bay  of  Fundy  to  its 
source,  and  from  its  source  directly  north  to  the  aforesaid  High 
lands  which  divide  the  rivers  that  fall  into  the  Atlantic  ocean 
from  those  which  fall  into  the  river  St.  Lawrence;  comprehend 
ing  all  islands  within  twenty  leagues  of  any  part  of  the  shores  of 
the  United  States,  and  lying  between  lines  to  be  drawn  due  east 
from  the  points  where  the  aforesaid  boundaries  between  Nova- 
Scotia  on  the  one  part,  and  East-Florida  on  the  other,  shall 
respectively  touch  the  Bay  of  Fundy  and  the  Atlantic  ocean; 
excepting  such  islands  as  now  are,  or  heretofore  have  been 
within  the  limits  of  the  said  province  of  Nova-Scotia. 

ARTICLE  III. 

It  is  agreed  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  shall  continue 
to  enjoy  unmolested  the  right  to  take  fish  of  every  kind  on  the 
Grand  Bank,  and  on  all  the  other  banks  of  Newfoundland;  also 
in  the  gulph  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  at  all  other  places  in  the 
sea,  where  the  inhabitants  of  both  countries  used  at  any  time 


1783]  TREATY   OF   PARIS  207 

heretofore  to  fish;  and  also  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  United 
States  shall  have  liberty  to  take  fish  of  every  kind  on  such  part 
of  the  coast  of  Newfoundland  as  British  fishermen  shall  use  (but 
not  to  dry  or  cure  the  same  on  that  island) ;  and  also  on  the  coasts, 
bays  and  creeks  of  all  other  of  his  Britannic  Majesty's  domin 
ions  in  America;  and  that  the  American  fishermen  shall  have 
liberty  to  dry  and  cure  fish  in  any  of  the  unsettled  bays,  harbours 
and  creeks  of  Nova-Scotia,  Magdalen  islands,  and  Labrador,  so 
long  as  the  same  shall  remain  unsettled ;  but  so  soon  as  the  same 
or  either  of  them  shall  be  settled,  it  shall  not  be  lawful  for  the 
said  fishermen  to  dry  or  cure  fish  at  such  settlement,  without  a 
previous  agreement  for  that  purpose  with  the  inhabitants,  pro 
prietors  or  possessors  of  the  ground. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

It  is  agreed  that  creditors  on  either  side,  shall  meet  with  no 
lawful  impediment  to  the  recovery  of  the  full  value  in  sterling 
money,  of  all  bona  fide  debts  heretofore  contracted. 

ARTICLE  V. 

It  is  agreed  that  the  Congress  shall  earnestly  recommend  it  to 
the  legislatures  of  the  respective  states,  to  provide  for  the  resti 
tution  of  all  estates,  rights  and  properties,  which  have  been  con 
fiscated,  belonging  to  real  British  subjects,  and  also  of  the  estates, 
rights  and  properties  of  persons  resident  in  districts  in  the  pos 
session  of  his  Majesty's  arms,  and  who  have  not  borne  arms 
against  the  said  United  States.  And  that  persons  of  any  other 
description  shall  have  free  liberty  to  go  to  any  part  or  parts  of 
any  of  the  thirteen  United  States,  and  therein  to  remain  twelve 
months,  unmolested  in  their  endeavours  t">  obtain  the  restitution 
of  such  of  their  estates,  rights  and  proper,  .es,  as  may  have  been 
confiscated;  and  that  Congress  shall  also  earnestly  recommend 
to  the  several  states  a  reconsideration  and  revision  of  all  acts  or 
laws  regarding  the  premises,  so  as  to  render  the  said  laws  or  acts 
perfectly  consistent,  not  only  with  justice  and  equity,  but  with 
that  spirit  of  conciliation,  which  on  the  return  of  the  blessings  of 
peace  should  universally  prevail.  And  that  Congress  shall  also 


208  TREATY   OF   PARIS  [September  3 

earnestly  recommend  to  the  several  states,  that  the  estates,  rights 
and  properties  of  such  last  mentioned  persons,  shall  be  restored 
to  them,  they  refunding  to  any  persons  who  may  be  now  in  pos 
session,  the  bona  fide  price  (where  any  has  been  given)  which 
such  persons  may  have  paid  on  purchasing  any  of  the  said  lands, 
rights  or  properties,  since  the  confiscation.  And  it  is  agreed, 
that  all  persons  who  have  any  interest  in  confiscated  lands,  either 
by  debts,  marriage  settlements,  or  otherwise,  shall  meet  with  no 
lawful  impediment  in  the  prosecution  of  their  just  rights. 

ARTICLE  VI. 

That  there  shall  be  no  future  confiscations  made,  nor  any  prose 
cutions  commenced  against  any  person  or  persons  for,  or  by  reason 
of  the  part  which  he  or  they  may  have  taken  in  the  present  war; 
and  that  no  person  shall,  on  that  account,  suffer  any  future  loss 
or  damage,  either  in  his  person,  liberty  or  property;  and  that 
those  who  may  be  in  confinement  on  such  charges,  at  the  time  of 
the  ratification  of  the  treaty  in  America,  shall  be  immediately  set 
at  liberty,  and  the  prosecutions  so  commenced  be  discontinued. 

ARTICLE  VII. 

There  shall  be  a  firm  and  perpetual  peace  between  his  Bri 
tannic  Majesty  and  the  said  States,  and  between  the  subjects  of 
the  one  and  the  citizens  of  the  other,  wherefore  all  hostilities, 
both  by  sea  and  land,  shall  from  henceforth  cease:  all  prisoners 
on  both  sides  shall  be  set  at  liberty,  and  his  Britannic  Majesty 
shall,  with  all  convenient  speed,  and  without  causing  any  destruc 
tion,  or  carrying  away  any  negroes  or  other  property  of  the  Ameri 
can  inhabitants,  withdraw  all  his  armies,  garrisons  and  fleets  from 
the  said  United  States,  and  from  every  port,  place  and  harbour 
within  the  same;  leaving  in  all  fortifications  the  American  artil 
lery  that  may  be  therein;  and  shall  also  order  and  cause  all 
archives,  records,  deeds  and  papers,  belonging  to  any  of  the 
said  states,  or  their  citizens,  which  in  the  course  of  the  war 
may  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  his  officers,  to  be  forthwith 
restored  and  delivered  to  the  proper  states  and  persons  to  whom 
they  belong. 


1783]  ORDINANCE   OF    1787  2O() 


ARTICLE  VIII. 

The  navigation  of  the  river  Mississippi,  from  its  source  to  the 
ocean,  shall  forever  remain  free  and  open  to  the  subjects  of  Great- 
Britain,  and  the  citizens  of  the  United  States. 

ARTICLE  IX. 

In  case  it  should  so  happen  that  any  place  or  territory  belong 
ing  to  Great-Britain  or  to  the  United  States,  should  have  been 
conquered  by  the  arms  of  either  from  the  other,  before  the  arrival 
of  the  said  provisional  articles  in  America,  it  is  agreed,  that  the 
same  shall  be  restored  without  difficulty,  and  without  requiring 

any  compensation.1 

******** 


No.  53.     Ordinance  of  1787 

July  13,  1787 

MARCH  i,  1784,  the  Virginia  delegates  in  Congress,  in  pursuance  of  an  act 
of  the  general  assembly  of  that  State,  passed  Dec.  20,  1783,  executed  a  deed 
of  cession  to  the  United  States  of  the  northwestern  territory  claimed  by  Vir 
ginia;  and  by  an  act  of  April  23  Congress  provided  a  temporary  government. 
During  the  next  three  years  various  plans  for  the  government  of  the  territory 
were  brought  forward.  July  n,  1787,  a  committee,  of  which  Nathan  Dane 
of  Massachusetts  was  chairman,  reported  an  ordinance  for  the  government  of 
the  territory  of  the  United  States  northwest  of  the  Ohio  River;  on  the  i2th  a 
clause  forbidding  slavery  in  the  territory  was  added  as  an  amendment;  and 
on  the  i3th  the  bill  became  a  law.  By  act  of  Aug.  7,  1789,  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States  continued  the  ordinance  in  effect;  and  the  act  of  May  25, 
1790,  extended  the  main  provisions  of  the  ordinance,  except  the  anti-slavery 
section,  to  territory  south  of  the  Ohio  River. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Revised  Statutes  (ed.  1878).  The  act  of  the  Vir 
ginia  assembly  and  the  deed  of  cession  are  in  Poore's  Federal  and  State 
Constitutions,  I.,  427,  428.  The  act  of  1784  is  in  the  Journal  of  Congress 
(ed.  1800),  IX.,  109,  no  ;  Jefferson's  plan  is  in  Randall's  Jefferson,  I.,  397- 
399.  The  detailed  history  of  the  ordinance  of  1787,  and  the  part  played  by 
Manasseh  Cutler,  were  first  shown  by  W.  F.  Poole,  in  North  Amer.  Rev. 

1  Signed:    "D.  Hartley,  John  Adams,  B.  Franklin,  John  Jay."  —  ED. 
p 


2IO  ORDINANCE   OF    1787  [July  13 

CXXIL,  229-265;  the  ordinance  proposed  in  May,  1787,  is  printed  by 
Poole,  ib.,  242-244.  A  fuller  account  is  in  the  Life,  Journals  and  Corre 
spondence  of  Manasseh  Cutler,  I.,  chap.  8.  Barrett's  Evolution  of  the  Or 
dinance  of  1787  gives  an  account  of  early  plans,  with  maps.  See  also  Life 
and  Public  Services  of  Arthur  St.  Clair,  II.  (cf.  review  in  Nation,  XXXIV., 
383-385). 

An  Ordinance  for  the  government  of  the  territory  of  the  United 
States  northwest  of  the  river  Ohio. 

SECTION  i.  Be  it  ordained  by  the  United  States  in  Congress 
assembled,  That  the  said  territory,  for  the  purposes  of  temporary 
government,  be  one  district,  subject,  however,  to  be  divided  into 
two  districts,  as  future  circumstances  may,  in  the  opinion  of  Con 
gress,  make  it  expedient. 

[SECTION  2  relates  to  the  descent  and  distribution  of  estates.] 

SEC.  3.  Be  it  ordained  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  That  there 
shall  be  appointed,  from  time  to  time,  by  Congress,  a  governor, 
whose  commission  shall  continue  in  force  for  the  term  of  three 
years,  unless  sooner  revoked  by  Congress;  he  shall  reside  in  the 
district,  and  have  a  freehold  estate  therein  in  one  thousand  acres 
of  land,  while  in  the  exercise  of  his  office. 

SEC.  4.  There  shall  be  appointed  from  time  to  time,  by  Con 
gress,  a  secretary,  whose  commission  shall  continue  in  force  for 
four  years,  unless  sooner  revoked;  he  shall  reside  in  the  district, 
and  have  a  freehold  estate  therein,  in  five  hundred  acres  of  land, 
while  in  the  exercise  of  his  office.  It  shall  be  his  duty  to  keep 
and  preserve  the  acts  and  laws  passed  by  the  legislature,  and  the 
public  records  of  the  district,  and  the  proceedings  of  the  governor 
in  his  executive  department,  and  transmit  authentic  copies  of  such 
acts  and  proceedings  every  six  months  to  the  Secretary  of  Con 
gress.  There  shall  also  be  appointed  a  court,  to  consist  of  three 
judges,  any  two  of  whom  to  form  a  court,  who  shall  have  a  common- 
law  jurisdiction,  and  reside  in  the  district,  and  have  each  therein 
a  freehold  estate,  in  five  hundred  acres  of  land,  while  in  the 
exercise  of  their  offices;  and  their  commissions  shall  continue  in 
force  during  good  behavior. 

SEC.  5.  The  governor  and  judges,  or  a  majority  of  them,  shall 
adopt  and  publish  in  the  district  such  laws  of  the  original  States, 
criminal  and  civil,  as  may  be  necessary,  and  best  suited  to  the 


1787]  ORDINANCE   OF   1787  211 

circumstances  of  the  district,  and  report  them  to  Congress  from 
time  to  time,  which  laws  shall  be  in  force  in  the  district  until  the 
organization  of  the  general  assembly  therein,  unless  disapproved 
of  by  Congress ;  but  afterwards  the  legislature  shall  have  authority 
to  alter  them  as  they  shall  think  fit. 

SEC.  6.  The  governor,  for  the  time  being,  shall  be  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  militia,  appoint  and  commission  all  officers  in  the 
same  below  the  rank  of  general  officers;  all  general  officers  shall 
be  appointed  and  commissioned  by  Congress. 

SEC.  7.  Previous  to  the  organization  of  the  general  assembly 
the  governor  shall  appoint  such  magistrates,  and  other  civil  officers, 
in  each  county  or  township,  as  he  shall  find  necessary  for  the 
preservation  of  the  peace  and  good  order  in  the  same.  After 
the  general  assembly  shall  be  organized  the  powers  and  duties 
of  the  magistrates  and  other  civil  officers  shall  be  regulated  and 
defined  by  the  said  assembly;  but  all  magistrates  and  other  civil 
officers,  not  herein  otherwise  directed,  shall,  during  the  con 
tinuance  of  this  temporary  government,  be  appointed  by  the 
governor. 

SEC.  8.  For  the  prevention  of  crimes  and  injuries,  the  laws  to 
be  adopted  or  made  shall  have  force  in  all  parts  of  the  district, 
and  for  the  execution  of  process,  criminal  and  civil,  the  governor 
shall  make  proper  divisions  thereof;  and  he  shall  proceed,  from 
time  to  time,  as  circumstances  may  require,  to  lay  out  the  parts 
of  the  district  in  which  the  Indian  titles  shall  have  been  extin 
guished,  into  counties  and  townships,  subject,  however,  to  such 
alterations  as  may  thereafter  be  made  by  the  legislature. 

SEC.  9.  So  soon  as  there  shall  be  five  thousand  free  male 
inhabitants,  of  full  age,  in  the  district,  upon  giving  proof  thereof 
to  the  governor,  they  shall  receive  authority,  with  time  and  place, 
to  elect  representatives  from  their  counties  or  townships,  to  repre 
sent  them  in  the  general  assembly:  Provided,  That  for  every  five 
hundred  free  male  inhabitants  there  shall  be  one  representative, 
and  so  on,  progressively,  with  the  number  of  free  male  inhabitants, 
shall  the  right  of  representation  increase,  until  the  number  of 
representatives  shall  amount  to  twenty-five ;  after  which  the  num 
ber  and  proportion  of  representatives  shall  be  regulated  by  the 
legislature:  Provided,  That  no  person  be  eligible  or  qualified  to 
act  as  a  representative,  unless  he  shall  have  been  a  citizen  of  one 


212  ORDINANCE    OF    1787  [July  13 

of  the  United  States  three  years,  and  be  a  resident  in  the  district, 
or  unless  he  shall  have  resided  in  the  district  three  years ;  and,  in 
either  case,  shall  likewise  hold  in  his  own  right,  in  fee-simple,  two 
hundred  acres  of  land  within  the  same:  Provided,  also,  That  a 
freehold  in  fifty  acres  of  land  in  the  district,  having  been  a  citizen 
of  one  of  the  States,  and  being  resident  in  the  district,  or  the  like 
freehold  and  two  years'  residence  in  the  district,  shall  be  necessary 
to  qualify  a  man  as  an  elector  of  a  representative. 

SEC.  10.  The  representatives  thus  elected  shall  serve  for  the 
term  of  two  years;  and  in  case  of  the  death  of  a  representative, 
or  removal  from  office,  the  governor  shall  issue  a  writ  to  the 
county  or  township,  for  which  he  was  a  member,  to  elect  another 
in  his  stead,  to  serve  for  the  residue  of  the  term. 

SEC.  ii.  The  general  assembly,  or  legislature,  shall  consist  of 
the  governor,  legislative  council,  and  a  house  of  representatives. 
The  legislative  council  shall  consist  of  five  members,  to  continue 
in  office  five  years,  unless  sooner  removed  by  Congress ;  any  three 
of  whom  to  be  a  quorum;  and  the  members  of  the  council  shall 
be  nominated  and  appointed  in  the  following  manner,  to  wit :  As 
soon  as  representatives  shall  be  elected  the  governor  shall  appoint 
a  time  and  place  for  them  to  meet  together,  and  when  met  they 
shall  nominate  ten  persons,  residents  in  the  district,  and  each 
possessed  of  a  freehold  in  five  hundred  acres  of  land,  and  return 
their  names  to  Congress,  five  of  whom  Congress  shall  appoint  and 
commission  to  serve  as  aforesaid;  and  whenever  a  vacancy  shall 
happen  in  the  council,  by  death  or  removal  from  office,  the  house 
of  representatives  shall  nominate  two  persons,  qualified  as  afore 
said,  for  each  vacancy,  and  return  their  names  to  Congress,  one 
of  whom  Congress  shall  appoint  and  commission  for  the  residue 
of  the  term;  and  every  five  years,  four  months  at  least  before 
the  expiration  of  the  time  of  service  of  the  members  of  council, 
the  said  house  shall  nominate  ten  persons,  qualified  as  aforesaid, 
and  return  their  names  to  Congress,  five  of  whom  Congress  shall 
appoint  and  commission  to  serve  as  members  of  the  council  five 
years,  unless  sooner  removed.  And  the  governor,  legislative  coun 
cil,  and  house  of  representatives  shall  have  authority  to  make 
laws  in  all  cases  for  the  good  government  of  the  district,  not 
repugnant  to  the  principles  and  articles  in  this  ordinance  estab 
lished  and  declared.  And  all  bills,  having  passed  by  a  majority 


1787]  ORDINANCE   OF   1787  213 

in  the  house,  and  by  a  majority  in  the  council,  shall  be  referred 
to  the  governor  for  his  assent;  but  no  bill,  or  legislative  act 
whatever,  shall  be  of  any  force  without  his  assent.  The  governor 
shall  have  power  to  convene,  prorogue,  and  dissolve  the  general 
assembly  when,  in  his  opinion,  it  shall  be  expedient. 

SEC.  12.  [The  governor  and  other  officers  to  take  an  oath].  As 
soon  as  a  legislature  shall  be  formed  in  the  district,  the  council 
and  house  assembled,  in  one  room,  shall  have  authority,  by  joint 
ballot,  to  elect  a  delegate  to  Congress  who  shall  have  a  seat  in 
Congress,  with  a  right  of  debating,  but  not  of  voting,  during  this 
temporary  government. 

SEC.  13.  And  for  extending  the  fundamental  principles  of  civil 
and  religious  liberty,  which  form  the  basis  whereon  these  republics, 
their  laws  and  constitutions,  are  erected ;  to  fix  and  establish  those 
principles  as  the  basis  of  all  laws,  constitutions,  and  governments, 
which  forever  hereafter  shall  be  formed  in  the  said  territory; 
to  provide,  also,  for  the  establishment  of  States,  and  permanent 
government  therein,  and  for  their  admission  to  a  share  in  the 
Federal  councils  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  original  States,  at 
as  early  periods  as  may  be  consistent  with  the  general  interest: 

SEC.  14.  It  is  hereby  ordained  and  declared,  by  the  authority 
aforesaid,  that  the  following  articles  shall  be  considered  as  articles 
of  compact,  between  the  original  States  and  the  people  and  States 
in  the  said  territory,  and  forever  remain  unalterable,  unless  by 
common  consent,  to  wit: 

ARTICLE  I. 

No  person,  demeaning  himself  in  a  peaceable  and  orderly  man 
ner,  shall  ever  be  molested  on  account  of  his  mode  of  worship,  or 
religious  sentiments,  in  the  said  territories. 

ARTICLE  II. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  said  territory  shall  always  be  entitled  to 
the  benefits  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and  of  the  trial  by  jury; 
of  a  proportionate  representation  of  the  people  in  the  legislature, 
and  of  judicial  proceedings  according  to  the  course  of  common 
law.  All  persons  shall  be  bailable,  unless  for  capital  offences, 


214  ORDINANCE   OF    1787  [July  13 

where  the  proof  shall  be  evident,  or  the  presumption  great.  All 
fines  shall  be  moderate;  and  no  cruel  or  unusual  punishments 
shall  be  inflicted.  No  man  shall  be  deprived  of  his  liberty  or 
property,  but  by  the  judgment  of  his  peers,  or  the  law  of  the  land, 
and  should  the  public  exigencies  make  it  necessary,  for  the  com 
mon  preservation,  to  take  any  person's  property,  or  to  demand 
his  particular  services,  full  compensation  shall  be  made  for  the 
same.  And,  in  the  just  preservation  of  rights  and  property,  it  is 
understood  and  declared,  that  no  law  ought  ever  to  be  made  or 
have  force  in  the  said  territory,  that  shall,  in  any  manner  whatever, 
interfere  with  or  affect  private  contracts,  or  engagements,  bonafide, 
and  without  fraud  previously  formed. 

ARTICLE  III. 

Religion,  morality,  and  knowledge  being  necessary  to  good 
government  and  the  happiness  of  mankind,  schools  and  the  means 
of  education  shall  forever  be  encouraged.  The  utmost  good  faith 
shall  always  be  observed  towards  the  Indians;  their  lands  and 
property  shall  never  be  taken  from  them  without  their  consent; 
and  in  their  property,  rights,  and  liberty  they  never  shall  be  in 
vaded  or  disturbed,  unless  in  just  and  lawful  wars  authorized  by 
Congress ;  but  laws  founded  in  justice  and  humanity  shall,  from 
time  to  time,  be  made,  for  preventing  wrongs  being  done  to  them, 
and  for  preserving  peace  and  friendship  with  them. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

The  said  territory,  and  the  States  which  may  be  formed  therein, 
shall  forever  remain  a  part  of  this  confederacy  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  subject  to  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  and  to 
such  alterations  therein  as  shall  be  constitutionally  made;  and 
to  all  the  acts  and  ordinances  of  the  United  States  in  Congress 
assembled,  conformable  thereto.  The  inhabitants  and  settlers  in 
the  said  territory  shall  be  subject  to  pay  a  part  of  the  Federal 
debts,  contracted,  or  to  be  contracted,  and  a  proportional  part 
of  the  expenses  of  government  to  be  apportioned  on  them  by 
Congress,  according  to  the  same  common  rule  and  measure 
by  which  apportionments  thereof  shall  be  made  on  the  other 


1787]  ORDINANCE   OF   1787  215 

States;  and  the  taxes  for  paying  their  proportion  shall  be  laid 
and  levied  by  the  authority  and  direction  of  the  legislatures  of  the 
district,  or  districts,  or  new  States,  as  in  the  original  States,  within 
the  time  agreed  upon  by  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled. 
The  legislatures  of  those  districts,  or  new  States,  shall  never  inter 
fere  with  the  primary  disposal  of  the  soil  by  the  United  States  in 
Congress  assembled,  nor  with  any  regulations  Congress  may  find 
necessary  for  securing  the  title  in  such  soil  to  the  bona  fide  pur 
chasers.  No  tax  shall  be  imposed  on  lands  the  property  of  the 
United  States;  and  in  no  case  shall  non-resident  proprietors  be 
taxed  higher  than  residents.  The  navigable  waters  leading  into 
the  Mississippi  and  Saint  Lawrence,  and  the  carrying  places 
between  the  same,  shall  be  common  highways,  and  forever  free, 
as  well  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  said  territory  as  to  the  citizens  of 
the  United  States,  and  those  of  any  other  States  that  may  be 
admitted  into  the  confederacy,  without  any  tax,  impost,  or  duty 
therefor. 

ARTICLE  V. 

There  shall  be  formed  in  the  said  territory  not  less  than  three 
lor  more  than  five  States;  and  the  boundaries  of  the  States, 
s  soon  as  Virginia  shall  alter  her  act  of  cession  and  consent  to 
/the  same,  shall  become  fixed  and  established  as  follows,  to  wit: 
JThe  western  State,  in  the  said  territory,  shall  be  bounded  by  the 
Mississippi,  the  Ohio,  and  the  Wabash  Rivers;  a  direct  line  drawn 
from  the  Wabash  and  Post  Vincents,  due  north,  to  the  territorial 
line  between  the  United  States  and  Canada;  and  by  the  said 
territorial  line  to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  and  Mississippi.  The 
middle  State  shall  be  bounded  by  the  said  direct  line,  the  Wabash 
from  Post  Vincents  to  the  Ohio,  by  the  Ohio,  by  a  direct  line 
drawn  due  north  from  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Miami  to  the  said 
territorial  line,  and  by  the  said  territorial  line.  The  eastern  State 
shall  be  bounded  by  the  last-mentioned  direct  line,  the  Ohio, 
Pennsylvania,  and  the  said  territorial  line:  Provided,  however, 
And  it  is  further  understood  and  declared,  that  the  boundaries 
of  these  three  States  shall  be  subject  so  far  to  be  altered,  that,  if 
Congress  shall  hereafter  find  it  expedient,  they  shall  have  authority 
to  form  one  or  two  States  in  that  part  of  the  said  territory  which 


2l6  CONSTITUTION   OF  THE   UNITED   STATES     [Sept.  17 

lies  north  of  an  east  and  west  line  drawn  through  the  southerly 
bend  or  extreme  of  Lake  Michigan.  And  whenever  any  of  the 
said  States  shall  have  sixty  thousand  free  inhabitants  therein,  such 
State  shall  be  admitted,  by  its  delegates,  into  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States,  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  original  States,  in  all 
respects  whatever;  and  shall  be  at  liberty  to  form  a  permanent 
constitution  and  State  government:  Provided,  The  constitution 
and  government,  so  to  be  formed,  shall  be  republican,  and  in 
conformity  to  the  principles  contained  in  these  articles,  and,  so 
far  as  it  can  be  consistent  with  the  general  interest  of  the  con 
federacy,  such  admission  shall  be  allowed  at  an  earlier  period,  and 
when  there  may  be  a  less  number  of  free  inhabitants  in  the  State 
than  sixty  thousand. 

ARTICLE  VI. 

There  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  in  the 
said  territory,  otherwise  than  in  the  punishment  of  crimes,  whereof 
the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted :  Provided  always,  That 
any  person  escaping  into  the  same,  from  whom  labor  or  service  is 
lawfully  claimed  in  any  one  of  the  original  States,  such  fugitive 
may  be  lawfully  reclaimed,  and  conveyed  to  the  person  claiming 
his  or  her  labor  or  service  as  aforesaid. 

*  ******* 


No.  54.    Constitution  of  the  United  States 

September  17,   1787 

IN  January,  1786,  the  legislature  of  Virginia  adopted  a  resolution  provid 
ing  for  the  appointment  of  commissioners  to  confer  with  representatives  from 
other  States  in  regard  to  the  commercial  interests  of  the  United  States.  In 
response  to  this  resolution,  delegates  from  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Penn 
sylvania,  Delaware,  and  Virginia  met  Sept.  i,  and  reported  in  favor  of  a 
convention  of  representatives  from  all  the  States,  to  meet  at  Philadelphia  in 
May  following,  to  consider  what  further  provisions  were  needed  "to  make 
the  Constitution  of  the  Federal  Government  adequate  to  the  exigencies  of  the 
Union."  A  resolution  favoring  a  convention  was  adopted  by  Congress,  Feb. 
21,  1787.  The  convention  was  called  for  May  14;  May  25,  seven  States 
being  represented,  George  Washington  was  chosen  president,  and  considera- 


1787]  CONSTITUTION    OF  THE   UNITED    STATES  217 

tion  of  the  proposed  constitution  was  begun.  July  24  the  provisions  as  agreed 
upon  were  sent  to  a  Committee  of  Detail  to  be  embodied  in  a  formal  con 
stitution.  The  committee  reported  Aug.  6;  Sept.  8  a  Committee  of  Style 
was  appointed;  on  the  i5th  the  amended  form  of  constitution  was  agreed  to, 
and  on  the  i7th  signed  by  all  but  three  of  the  delegates  present.  The  con 
stitution  was  transmitted  to  Congress  with  an  explanatory  letter,  and  a  reso 
lution  indicating  the  way  in  which  the  proposed  government  should  be  put 
into  operation.  On  the  28th  of  September  Congress  transmitted  the  con 
stitution,  with  the  letter  and  resolution,  to  the  State  legislatures  for  submis 
sion  to  a  convention  of  delegates  in  each  State.  The  States  ratified  the  con 
stitution  as  follows:  Delaware,  Dec.  7;  Pennsylvania,  Dec.  12;  New  Jersey, 
Dec.  18,  1787;  Georgia,  Jan.  2;  Connecticut,  Jan.  9;  Massachusetts,  Feb.  7; 
Maryland,  April  28;  South  Carolina,  May  23;  New  Hampshire,  June  21; 
Virginia,  June  25;  New  York,  July  26,  1788;  North  Carolina,  Nov.  21, 
1789;  Rhode  Island,  May  29,  1790. 

REFERENCES.  —  Official  text  in  Revised  Statutes  (ed.  1878).  There  are 
many  reprints.  The  text  in  the  Revised  Statutes  is  accompanied  by  refer 
ences  to  judicial  decisions  and  an  elaborate  analytical  index.  The  Journal 
of  the  convention  was  printed  at  Boston,  1819;  it  is  also  in  Elliot's  Debates 
(ed.  1836),  I.,  176-348.  Madison's  notes  of  the  debates  are  in  the  Madison, 
Papers,  II.,  III.,  and  in  Elliot;  for  Yates's  minutes,  Elliot,  I.,  439-515. 
The  various  plans  submitted  are  mentioned  in  Madison's,  notes  and  in  the 
Journal.  The  resolution  of  Sept.  17,  the  accompanying  letter  to  Congress, 
and  the  resolution  of  Congress,  Sept.  28,  are  in  Elliot,  I.,  52,  53;  texts  of  the 
ratifications  of  the  States,  ib.,  I.,  349-375.  There  is  a  brief  history  of  the 
amendments  to  the  constitution  in  Lalor's  Cyclopcedia,  I.,  607-610.  The 
classical  exposition  of  the  constitution  is  the  Federalist,  of  which  there  are 
numerous  editions:  Dawson's  "university  edition"  has  an  elaborate  analysis. 
On  the  sources  of  the  constitution,  Johnston,  in  New  Princeton  Rev.,  IV., 
175-190;  Robinson,  in  Annals  of  the  Amer.  Acad.  of  Polit.  and  Soc.  Science, 
I.,  203-243 ;  Stevens,  Sources  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

WE  THE  PEOPLE  of  the  United  States,  in  Order  to  form  a  more 
perfect  Union,  establish  Justice,  insure  domestic  Tranquility, 
provide  for  the  common  defence,  promote  the  general  Welfare, 
and  secure  the  Blessings  of  Liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  Pos 
terity,  do  ordain  and  establish  this  CONSTITUTION  for  the  United 
States  of  America. 


ARTICLE  I. 

SECTION,  i.  All  legislative  Powers  herein  granted  shall  be  vested 
in  a  Congress  of  the  United  States,  which  shall  consist  of  a  Senate 
and  House  of  Representatives. 


2l8  CONSTITUTION   OF  THE   UNITED    STATES     [Sept.  1} 

SECTION.  2.1  The  House  of  Representatives  shall  be  composed 
of  Members  chosen  every  second  Year  by  the  People  of  the  several 
States,  and  the  Electors  in  each  State  shall  have  the  Qualifications 
requisite  for  Electors  of  the  most  numerous  Braiuh  of  the  State 
Legislature. 

No  Person  shall  be  a  Representative  who  shall  not  have  attained 
to  the  Age  of  twenty-five  Years,  and  been  seven  Years  a  Citizen  of 
the  United  States,  and  who  shall  not,  when  elected,  be  an  Inhab 
itant  of  that  State  in  which  he  shall  be  chosen. 

Representatives  and  direct  Taxes  shall  be  apportioned  among 
the  several  States  which  may  be  included  within  this  Union,  accord 
ing  to  their  respective  Numbers,  which  shall  be  determined  by 
adding  to  the  whole  Number  of  free  Persons,  including  those 
bound  to  Service  for  a  Term  of  Years,  and  excluding  Indians  not 
taxed,  three  fifths  of  all  other  Persons.  The  actual  Enumeration 
shall  be  made  within  three  Years  after  the  first  Meeting  of  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  within  every  subsequent  Term 
of  ten  Years,  in  such  Manner  as  they  shall  by  Law  direct.  The 
Number  of  Representatives  shall  not  exceed  one  for  every  thirty 
Thousand,  but  each  State  shall  have  at  Least  one  Representative ; 
and  until  such  enumeration  shall  be  made,  the  State  of  New 
Hampshire  shall  be  entitled  to  chuse  three,  Massachusetts  eight, 
Rhode-Island  and  Providence  Plantations  one,  Connecticut  five, 
New- York  six,  New  Jersey  four,  Pennsylvania  eight,  Delaware  one, 
Maryland  six,  Virginia  ten,  North  Carolina  five,  South  Carolina 
five,  and  Georgia  three. 

When  vacancies  happen  in  the  Representation  from  any  State, 
the  Executive  Authority  thereof  shall  issue  Writs  of  Election  to  fill 
such  Vacancies. 

The  House  of  Representatives  shall  chuse  their  Speaker  and 
other  Officers ;  and  shall  have  the  sole  Power  of  Impeachment. 

SECTION.  3.  The  Senate  of  the  United  States  shall  be  composed 
of  two  Senators  from  each  State,  chosen  by  the  Legislature  thereof, 
for  six  Years ;  and  each  Senator  shall  have  one  Vote. 

Immediately  after  they  shall  be  assembled  in  Consequence  of 
the  first  Election,  they  shall  be  divided  as  equally  as  may  be  into 
three  Classes.  The  Seats  of  the  Senators  of  the  first  Class  shall 

1  The  numbers  prefixed  to  the  paragraphs  in  the  Revised  Statutes  ar« 
omitted.  —  ED. 


1787]  CONSTITUTION   OF  THE   UNITED    STATES  219 

be  vacated  at  the  Expiration  of  the  second  year,  of  the  second 
Class  at  the  Expiration  of  the  fourth  Year,  and  of  the  third  Class 
at  the  Expiration  of  the  sixth  Year,  so  that  one  third  may  be 
chosen  every  second  Year;  and  if  Vacancies  happen  by  Resigna 
tion,  or  otherwise,  during  the  Recess  of  the  Legislature  of  any 
State,  the  Executive  thereof  may  make  temporary  Appointments 
until  the  next  Meeting  of  the  Legislature,  which  shall  then  fill 
such  Vacancies. 

No  Person  shall  be  a  Senator  who  shall  not  have  attained  to 
the  Age  of  thirty  Years,  and  been  nine  Years  a  Citizen  of  the 
United  States,  and  who  shall  not,  when  elected,  be  an  Inhabitant 
of  that  State  for  which  he  shall  be  chosen. 

The  Vice  President  of  the  United  States  shall  be  President  of 
the  Senate,  but  shall  have  no  Vote,  unless  they  be  equally 
divided. 

The  Senate  shall  chuse  their  other  Officers,  and  also  a  President 
pro  tempore,  in  the  Absence  of  the  Vice  President,  or  when  he 
shall  exercise  the  Office  of  President  of  the  United  States. 

The  Senate  shall  have  the  sole  Power  to  try  all  Impeachments. 
When  sitting  for  that  Purpose,  they  shall  be  on  Oath  or  Affirma 
tion.  When  the  President  of  the  United  States  is  tried,  the  Chief 
Justice  shall  preside:  And  no  Person  shall  be  convicted  without 
the  Concurrence  of  two  thirds  of  the  Members  present. 

Judgment  in  Cases  of  Impeachment  shall  not  extend  further 
than  to  removal  from  Office,  and  disqualification  to  hold  and 
enjoy  any  Office  of  honor,  Trust  or  Profit  under  the  United 
States:  but  the  Party  convicted  shall  nevertheless  be  liable  and 
subject  to  Indictment,  Trial,  Judgment  and  Punishment,  according 
to  Law. 

SECTION.  4.  The  Times,  Places  and  Manner  of  holding  Elec 
tions  for  Senators  and  Representatives,  shall  be  prescribed  in  each 
State  by  the  Legislature  thereof;  but  the  Congress  may  at  any 
time  by  Law  make  or  alter  such  Regulations,  except  as  to  the 
Places  of  chusing  Senators. 

The  Congress  shall  assemble  at  least  once  in  every  Year,  and 
such  Meeting  shall  be  on  the  first  Monday  in  December,  unless 
they  shall  by  Law  appoint  a  different  Day. 

SECTION.  5.  Each  House  shall  be  the  Judge  of  the  Elections, 
Returns  and  Qualifications  of  its  own  Members,  and  a  Majority 


220  CONSTITUTION   OF  THE    UNITED    STATES     [Sept.  17 

of  each  shall  constitute  a  Quorum  to  do  Business;  but  a  smaller 
Number  may  adjourn  from  day  to  day,  and  may  be  authorized  to 
compel  the  Attendance  of  absent  Members,  in  such  Manner,  and 
under  such  Penalties  as  each  House  may  provide. 

Each  House  may  determine  the  Rules  of  its  Proceedings,  pun 
ish  its  Members  for  disorderly  Behavior,  and,  with  the  Concur 
rence  of  two  thirds,  expel  a  Member. 

Each  House  shall  keep  a  Journal  of  its  Proceedings,  and  from 
time  to  time  publish  the  same,  excepting  such  Parts  as  may  in 
their  Judgment  require  Secrecy;  and  the  Yeas  and  Nays  of  the 
Members  of  either  House  on  any  question  shall,  at  the  Desire  of 
one  fifth  of  those  present,  be  entered  on  the  Journal. 

Neither  House,  during  the  Session  of  Congress,  shall,  without 
the  Consent  of  the  other,  adjourn  for  more  than  three  days,  nor 
to  any  other  Place  than  that  in  which  the  two  Houses  shall  be 
sitting. 

SECTION.  6.  The  Senators  and  Representatives  shall  receive  a 
Compensation  for  their  Services,  to  be  ascertained  by  Law,  and 
paid  out  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States.  They  shall  in  all 
Cases,  except  Treason,  Felony  and  Breach  of  the  Peace,  be  privi 
leged  from  Arrest  during  their  Attendance  at  the  Session  of  their 
respective  Houses,  and  in  going  to  and  returning  from  the  same ; 
and  for  any  Speech  or  Debate  in  either  House,  they  shall  not  be 
questioned  in  any  other  Place. 

No  Senator  or  Representative  shall,  during  the  Time  for  which 
he  was  elected,  be  appointed  to  any  civil  Office  under  the  Author 
ity  of  the  United  States,  which  shall  have  been  created,  or  the 
Emoluments  whereof  shall  have  been  encreased  during  such  time ; 
and  no  Person  holding  any  Office  under  the  United  States,  shall 
be  a  Member  of  either  House  during  his  Continuance  in  Office. 

SECTION.  7.  All  Bills  for  raising  Revenue  shall  originate  in  the 
House  of  Representatives ;  but  the  Senate  may  propose  or  concur 
with  Amendments  as  on  other  Bills. 

Every  Bill  which  shall  have  passed  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  and  the  Senate,  shall,  before  it  become  a  Law,  be  presented 
to  the  President  of  the  United  States ;  If  he  approve  he  shall  sign 
it,  but  if  not  he  shall  return  it,  with  his  Objections  to  that  House 
in  which  it  shall  have  originated,  who  shall  enter  the  Objections 
at  large  on  their  Journal,  and  proceed  to  reconsider  it.  If  after 


1787]  CONSTITUTION    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES  221 

such  Reconsideration  two  thirds  of  that  House  shall  agree  to  pass 
the  Bill,  it  shall  be  sent,  together  with  the  Objections,  to  the  other 
House,  by  which  it  shall  likewise  be  reconsidered,  and  if  approved 
by  two  thirds  of  that  House,  it  shall  become  a  Law.  But  in  all 
such  Cases  the  Votes  of  both  Houses  shall  be  determined  by  Yeas 
and  Nays,  and  the  Names  of  the  Persons  voting  for  and  against 
the  Bill  shall  be  entered  on  the  Journal  of  each  House  respec 
tively.  If  any  Bill  shall  not  be  returned  by  the  President  within 
ten  Days  (Sundays  excepted)  after  it  shall  have  been  presented 
to  him,  the  Same  shall  be  a  law,  in  like  Manner  as  if  he  had  signed 
it,  unless  the  Congress  by  their  Adjournment  prevent  its  Return, 
in  which  Case  it  shall  not  be  a  Law. 

Every  Order,  Resolution,  or  Vote  to  which  the  Concurrence 
of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  may  be  necessary 
(except  on  a  question  of  Adjournment)  shall  be  presented  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States;  and  before  the  Same  shall  take 
Effect,  shall  be  approved  by  him,  or  being  disapproved  by  him, 
shall  be  repassed  by  two  thirds  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Rep 
resentatives,  according  to  the  Rules  and  Limitations  prescribed  in 
the  Case  of  a  Bill. 

SECTION.  8.  The  Congress  shall  have  Power  To  lay  and  collect 
Taxes,  Duties,  Imposts  and  Excises,  to  pay  the  Debts  and  pro 
vide  for  the  common  Defence  and  general  Welfare  of  the  United 
States;  but  all  Duties,  Imposts  and  Excises  shall  be  uniform 
throughout  the  United  States; 

To  borrow  Money  on  the  Credit  of  the  United  States; 

To  regulate  Commerce  with  foreign  Nations,  and  among  the 
several  States,  and  with  the  Indian  Tribes; 

To  establish  an  uniform  Rule  of  Naturalization,  and  uniform 
Laws  on  the  subject  of  Bankruptcies  throughout  the  United 
States; 

To  coin  Money,  regulate  the  Value  thereof,  and  of  foreign  Coin, 
and  fix  the  Standard  of  Weights  and  Measures ; 

To  provide  for  the  Punishment  of  counterfeiting  the  Securities 
and  current  Coin  of  the  United  States; 

To  establish  Post  Offices  and  post  Roads; 

To  promote  the  Progress  of  Science  and  useful  Arts,  by  secur 
ing  for  limited  Times  to  Authors  and  Inventors  the  exclusive  Right 
to  their  respective  Writings  and  Discoveries; 


222  CONSTITUTION   OF  THE   UNITED   STATES    [Sept.  17 

To  constitute  Tribunals  inferior  to  the  supreme  Court; 

To  define  and  Punish  Piracies  and  Felonies  committed  on  the 
high  Seas,  and  Offences  against  the  Law  of  Nations; 

To  declare  War,  grant  Letters  of  Marque  and  Reprisal,  and 
make  Rules  concerning  Captures  on  Land  and  Water; 

To  raise  and  support  Armies,  but  no  Appropriation  of  Money 
to  that  Use  shall  be  for  a  longer  Term  than  two  Years; 

To  provide  and  maintain  a  Navy; 

To  make  Rules  for  the  Government  and  Regulation  of  the  land 
and  naval  Forces; 

To  provide  for  calling  forth  the  Militia  to  execute  the  Laws  of 
the  Union,  suppress  Insurrections  and  repel  Invasions; 

To  provide  for  organizing,  arming,  and  disciplining,  the  Militia, 
and  for  governing  such  Part  of  them  as  may  be  employed  in  the 
Service  of  the  United  States,  reserving  to  the  States  respectively, 
the  Appointment  of  the  Officers,  and  the  Authority  of  training  the 
Militia  according  to  the  discipline  prescribed  by  Congress; 

To  exercise  exclusive  Legislation  in  all  Cases  whatsoever,  over 
such  District  (not  exceeding  ten  Miles  square)  as  may,  by  Cession 
of  particular  States,  and  the  Acceptance  of  Congress,  become  the 
Seat  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  and  to  exercise  like 
Authority  over  all  Places  purchased  by  the  Consent  of  the  Legis 
lature  of  the  State  in  which  the  Same  shall  be,  for  the  Erection 
of  Forts,  Magazines,  Arsenals,  dock-Yards,  and  other  needful 
Buildings;  —  And 

To  make  all  Laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for 
carrying  into  Execution  the  foregoing  Powers,  and  all  other 
Powers  vested  by  this  Constitution  in  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  or  in  any  Department  or  Officer  thereof. 

SECTION.  9.  The  Migration  or  Importation  of  such  Persons  as 
any  of  the  States  now  existing  shall  think  proper  to  admit,  shall 
not  be  prohibited  by  the  Congress  prior  to  the  Year  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  eight,  but  a  Tax  or  Duty  may  be  imposed  on 
such  Importation,  not  exceeding  ten  dollars  for  each  Person. 

The  Privilege  of  the  Writ  of  Habeas  Corpus  shall  not  be  sus 
pended,  unless  when  in  Cases  of  Rebellion  or  Invasion  the  public 
Safety  may  require  it. 

No  Bill  of  Attainder  or  expost  facto  Law  shall  be  passed. 

No  Capitation,  or  other  direct,   tax  shall  be  laid,  unless  in 


1787]  CONSTITUTION   OF  THE   UNITED   STATES  223 

Proportion  to  the  Census  or  Enumeration  herein  before  directed 
to  be  taken. 

No  Tax  or  Duty  shall  be  laid  on  Articles  exported  from  any 
State. 

No  Preference  shall  be  given  by  any  Regulation  of  Commerce 
or  Revenue  to  the  Ports  of  one  State  over  those  of  another:  nor 
shall  Vessels  bound  to,  or  from,  one  State,  be  obliged  to  enter, 
clear,  or  pay  Duties  in  another. 

No  Money  shall  be  drawn  from  the  Treasury,  but  in  Conse 
quence  of  Appropriations  made  by  Law;  and  a  regular  Statement 
and  Account  of  the  Receipts  and  Expenditures  of  all  public 
Money  shall  be  published  from  time  to  time. 

No  Title  of  Nobility  shall  be  granted  by  the  United  States: 
And  no  Person  holding  any  Office  of  Profit  or  Trust  under  them, 
shall,  without  the  Consent  of  the  Congress,  accept  of  any  present, 
Emolument,  Office,  or  Title,  of  any  kind  whatever,  from  any  King, 
Prince,  or  foreign  State. 

SECTION.  10.  No  State  shall  enter  into  any  Treaty,  Alliance, 
or  Confederation;  grant  Letters  of  Marque  and  Reprisal;  coin 
Money;  emit  Bills  of  Credit;  make  any  Thing  but  gold  and  silver 
Coin  a  Tender  in  Payment  of  Debts;  pass  any  Bill  of  Attainder, 
ex  post  facto  Law,  or  Law  impairing  the  Obligation  of  Contracts, 
or  grant  any  Title  of  Nobility. 

No  State  shall,  without  the  Consent  of  the  Congress,  lay  any 
Imposts  or  Duties  on  Imports  or  Exports,  except  what  may  be 
absolutely  necessary  for  executing  it's  inspection  Laws:  and  the 
net  Produce  of  all  Duties  and  Imposts,  laid  by  any  State  on 
Imports  or  Exports,  shall  be  for  the  Use  of  the  Treasury  of  the 
United  States ;  and  all  such  Laws  shall  be  subject  to  the  Revision 
and  Controul  of  the  Congress. 

No  State  shall,  without  the  Consent  of  Congress,  lay  any  Duty 
of  Tonnage,  keep  Troops,  or  Ships  of  War  in  time  of  Peace,  enter 
into  any  Agreement  or  Compact  with  another  State,  or  with  a 
foreign  Power,  or  engage  in  War,  unless  actually  invaded,  or  in 
such  imminent  Danger  as  will  not  admit  of  Delay. 

ARTICLE  II. 
SECTION,  i.    The  executive  Powrer  shall  be  vested  in  a  President 


224  CONSTITUTION    OF  THE   UNITED   STATES     [Sept.  17 

of  the  United  States  of  America.  He  shall  hold  his  Office  during 
the  Term  of  four  Years,  and,  together  with  the  Vice  President, 
chosen  for  the  same  Term,  be  elected,  as  follows 

Each  State  shall  appoint,  in  such  Manner  as  the  Legislature 
thereof  may  direct,  a  Number  of  Electors,  equal  to  the  whole 
Number  of  Senators  and  Representatives  to  which  the  State  may 
be  entitled  in  the  Congress :  but  no  Senator  or  Representative,  or 
Person  holding  an  Office  of  Trust  or  Profit  under  the  United 
States,  shall  be  appointed  an  Elector. 

The  electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  States,  and  vote  by 
ballot  for  two  Persons,  of  whom  one  at  least  shall  not  be  an 
Inhabitant  of  the  same  State  with  themselves.  And  they  shall 
make  a  List  of  all  the  Persons  voted  for,  and  of  the  Number  of 
Votes  for  each;  which  List  they  shall  sign  and  certify,  and  trans 
mit  sealed  to  the  Seat  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
directed  to  the  President  of  the  Senate.  The  President  of  the 
Senate  shall,  in  the  Presence  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  open  all  the  Certificates,  and  the  Votes  shall  then  be 
counted.  The  Person  having  the  greatest  Number  of  Votes  shall 
be  the  President,  if  such  Number  be  a  Majority  of  the  whole 
Number  of  Electors  appointed;  and  if  there  be  more  than  one 
who  have  such  Majority  and  have  an  equal  Number  of  Votes,  then 
the  House  of  Representatives  shall  immediately  chuse  by  Ballot 
one  of  them  for  President;  and  if  no  person  have  a  Majority, 
then  from  the  five  highest  on  the  List  the  said  House  shall  in  like 
Manner  chuse  the  President.  But  in  chusing  the  President,  the 
Votes  shall  be  taken  by  States,  the  Representation  from  each  State 
having  one  Vote;  A  quorum  for  this  Purpose  shall  consist  of  a 
Member  or  Members  from  two-thirds  of  the  States,  and  a  Majority 
of  all  the  States  shall  be  necessary  to  a  Choice.  In  every  Case, 
after  the  Choice  of  the  President,  the  person  having  the  greatest 
Number  of  Votes  of  the  Electors  shall  be  the  Vice  President. 
But  if  there  should  remain  two  or  more  who  have  equal  Votes, 
the  Senate  shall  chuse  from  them  by  Ballot  the  Vice-President.1 

The  Congress  may  determine  the  Time  of  chusing  the  Electors, 
and  the  Day  on  which  they  shall  give  their  Votes;  which  Day 
shall  be  the  same  throughout  the  United  States. 

1  This  paragraph  was  superseded  by  the  i2th  Article  of  the  Amendments. 
—  ED. 


1787]  CONSTITUTION    OF  THE   UNITED   STATES  225 

No  Person  except  a  natural  born  Citizen,  or  a  Citizen  of  the 
United  States,  at  the  time  of  the  Adoption  of  this  Constitution, 
shall  be  eligible  to  the  Office  of  President;  neither  shall  any  Per 
son  be  eligible  to  that  Office  who  shall  not  have  attained  to  the 
Age  of  thirty  five  Years,  and  been  fourteen  Years  a  Resident 
within  the  United  States. 

In  Case  of  the  Removal  of  the  President  from  Office,  or  of  his 
Death,  Resignation,  or  Inability  to  discharge  the  Powers  and 
Duties  of  the  said  Office,  the  same  shall  devolve  on  the  Vice 
President,  and  the  Congress  may  by  Law  provide  for  the  Case 
of  Removal,  Death,  Resignation,  or  Inability,  both  of  the  Presi 
dent  and  Vice  President,  declaring  what  Officer  shall  then  act  as 
President,  and  such  Officer  shall  act  accordingly,  until  the  Dis 
ability  be  removed,  or  a  President  shall  be  elected. 

The  President  shall,  at  stated  Times,  receive  for  his  Services,  a 
Compensation,  which  shall  neither  be  encreased  nor  diminished 
during  the  Period  for  which  he  shall  have  been  elected,  and  he 
shall  not  receive  within  that  Period  any  other  Emolument  from 
the  United  States,  or  any  of  them. 

Before  he  enter  on  the  Execution  of  his  Office,  he  shall  take 
the  following  Oath  or  Affirmation:  —  "I  do  solemnly  swear  (or 
"affirm)  that  I  will  faithfully  execute  the  Office  of  President  of 
"the  United  States,  and  will  to  the  best  of  my  Ability,  preserve, 
"protect  and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States." 

SECTION.  2.  The  President  shall  be  Commander  in  Chief  of 
the  Army  and  Navy  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  Militia  of  the 
several  States,  when  called  into  the  actual  Service  of  the  United 
States;  he  may  require  the  Opinion,  in  writing,  of  the  principal 
Officer  in  each  of  the  executive  Departments,  upon  any  Subject 
relating  to  the  Duties  of  their  respective  Offices,  and  he  shall  have 
Power  to  grant  Reprieves  and  Pardons  for  Offences  against  the 
United  States,  except  in  Cases  of  Impeachment. 

He  shall  have  Power,  by  and  with  the  Advice  and  Consent  ol 
the  Senate,  to  make  Treaties,  provided  two  thirds  of  the  Senators 
present  concur;  and  he  shall  nominate,  and  by  and  with  the 
Advice  and  Consent  of  the  Senate,  shall  appoint  Ambassadors, 
other  public  Ministers  and  Consuls,  Judges  of  the  supreme  Court, 
and  all  other  Officers  of  the  United  States,  whose  Appointments 
are  not  herein  otherwise  provided  for,  and  which  shall  be  estab- 
Q 


226  CONSTITUTION   OF  THE   UNITED   STATES    [Sept.  17 

lished  by  Law :  but  the  Congress  may  by  Law  vest  the  Appoint 
ment  of  such  inferior  Officers,  as  they  think  proper,  in  the  President 
alone,  in  the  Courts  of  Law,  or  in  the  Heads  of  Departments. 

The  President  shall  have  Power  to  fill  up  all  Vacancies  that  may 
happen  during  the  Recess  of  the  Senate,  by  granting  Commissions 
which  shall  expire  at  the  End  of  their  next  Session. 

SECTION.  3.  He  shall  from  time  to  time  give  to  the  Congress 
Information  of  the  State  of  the  Union,  and  recommend  to  their 
Consideration  such  Measures  as  he  shall  judge  necessary  and 
expedient;  he  may,  on  extraordinary  Occasions,  convene  both 
Houses,  or  either  of  them,  and  in  Case  of  Disagreement  between 
them,  with  Respect  to  the  Time  of  Adjournment,  he  may  adjourn 
them  to  such  Time  as  he  shall  think  proper;  he  shall  receive 
Ambassadors  and  other  public  Ministers;  he  shall  take  Care  that 
the  Laws  be  faithfully  executed,  and  shall  Commission  all  the 
Officers  of  the  United  States. 

SECTION.  4.  The  President,  Vice  President  and  all  civil  Officers 
of  the  United  States,  shall  be  removed  from  Office  on  Impeach 
ment  for,  and  Conviction  of,  Treason,  Bribery,  or  other  high 
Crimes  and  Misdemeanors. 

ARTICLE  III. 

SECTION,  i.  The  judicial  Power  of  the  United  States,  shall  be 
vested  in  one  supreme  Court,  and  in  such  inferior  Courts  as  the 
Congress  may  from  time  to  time  ordain  and  establish.  The 
Judges,  both  of  the  supreme  and  inferior  Courts,  shall  hold  their 
Offices  during  good  Behavior,  and  shall,  at  stated  Times,  receive 
for  their  Services,  a  Compensation,  which  shall  not  be  diminished 
during  their  Continuance  in  Office. 

SECTION.  2.  The  judicial  Power  shall  extend  to  all  Cases,  in 
Law  and  Equity,  arising  under  this  Constitution,  the  Laws  of  the 
United  States,  and  Treaties  made,  or  which  shall  be  made,  under 
their  Authority;  —  to  all  Cases  affecting  Ambassadors,  other  public 
Ministers  and  Consuls;  —  to  all  Cases  of  admiralty  and  maritime 
Jurisdiction;  —  to  Controversies  to  which  the  United  States  shall 
be  a  Party;  —  to  Controversies  between  two  or  more  States;  — 
between  a  State  and  Citizens  of  another  State;  —  between  Citizens 
of  different  States,  —  between  Citizens  of  the  same  State  claiming 


1787]  CONSTITUTION   OF  THE   UNITED    STATES  227 

Lands  under  Grants  of  different  States,  and  between  a  State,  or 
the  Citizens  thereof,  and  foreign  States,  Citizens  or  Subjects. 

In  all  Cases  affecting  Ambassadors,  other  public  Ministers  and 
Consuls,  and  those  in  which  a  State  shall  be  Party,  the  supreme 
Court  shall  have  original  Jurisdiction.  In  all  the  other  Cases 
before  mentioned,  the  supreme  Court  shall  have  appellate  Juris 
diction,  both  as  to  Law  and  Fact,  with  such  Exceptions,  and 
under  such  Regulations  as  the  Congress  shall  make. 

The  Trial  of  all  Crimes,  except  in  Cases  of  Impeachment,  shall 
be  by  Jury;  and  such  Trial  shall  be  held  in  the  State  where  the 
said  Crimes  shall  have  been  committed ;  but  when  not  committed 
within  any  State,  the  Trial  shall  be  at  such  Place  or  Places  as  the 
Congress  may  by  Law  have  directed. 

SECTION.  3.  Treason  against  the  United  States,  shall  consist 
only  in  levying  War  against  them,  or  in  adhering  to  their  Ene 
mies,  giving  them  Aid  and  Comfort.  No  Person  shall  be  con 
victed  of  Treason  unless  on  the  Testimony  of  two  Witnesses  to 
the  same  overt  Act,  or  on  Confession  in  open  Court. 

The  Congress  shall  have  Powrer  to  declare  the  Punishment 
of  Treason,  but  no  Attainder  of  Treason  shall  work  Corruption 
of  Blood,  or  Forfeiture  except  during  the  Life  of  the  Person 
attainted. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

SECTION,  i.  Full  Faith  and  Credit  shall  be  given  in  each  State 
to  the  public  Acts,  Records,  and  judicial  Proceedings  of  every 
other  State,  And  the  Congress  may  by  general  Laws  prescribe 
the  Manner  in  which  such  Acts,  Records  and  Proceedings  shall 
be  proved,  and  the  Effect  thereof. 

SECTION.  2.  The  Citizens  of  each  State  shall  be  entitled  to  all 
Privileges  and  Immunities  of  Citizens  in  the  several  States. 

A  person  charged  in  any  State  with  Treason,  Felony,  or  other 
Crime,  who  shall  flee  from  Justice,  and  be  found  in  another  State, 
shall  on  Demand  of  the  executive  Authority  of  the  State  from 
which  he  fled,  be  delivered  up  to  be  removed  to  the  State  having 
Jurisdiction  of  the  Crime. 

No  Person  held  to  Service  or  Labour  in  one  State,  under  the 
Laws  thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall,  in  Consequence  of  any 
Law  or  Regulation  therein,  be  discharged  from  such  Service  or 


228  CONSTITUTION   OF  THE   UNITED    STATES     [Sept.  17 

Labour,  but  shall  be  delivered  up  on  Claim  of  the  Party  to  whom 
such  Service  or  Labour  may  be  due. 

SECTION.  3.  New  States  may  be  admitted  by  the  Congress  into 
this  Union;  but  no  new  State  shall  be  formed  or  erected  within 
the  Jurisdiction  of  any  other  State;  nor  any  State  be  formed  by 
the  Junction  of  two  or  more  States,  or  Parts  of  States,  without  the 
Consent  of  the  Legislatures  of  the  States  concerned  as  well  as  of 
the  Congress. 

The  Congress  shall  have  Power  to  dispose  of  and  make  all. 
needful  Rules  and  Regulations  respecting  the  Territory  or  other 
Property  belonging  to  the  United  States;  and  nothing  in  this 
Constitution  shall  be  so  construed  as  to  Prejudice  any  Claims  of 
the  United  States,  or  of  any  particular  State. 

SECTION.  4.  The  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every  State 
in  this  Union  a  Republican  Form  of  Government,  and  shall  pro 
tect  each  of  them  against  Invasion;  and  on  Application  of  the 
Legislature,  or  of  the  Executive  (when  the  Legislature  cannot  be 
convened)  against  domestic  Violence. 

ARTICLE  V. 

The  Congress,  whenever  two  thirds  of  both  Houses  shall  deem 
it  necessary,  shall  propose  Amendments  to  this  Constitution,  or, 
on  the  Application  of  the  Legislatures  of  two  thirds  of  the  several 
States,  shall  call  a  Convention  for  proposing  Amendments,  which, 
in  either  Case,  shall  be  valid  to  all  Intents  and  Purposes,  as  Part 
of  this  Constitution,  when  ratified  by  the  Legislatures  of  three 
fourths  of  the  several  States,  or  by  Conventions  in  three  fourths 
thereof,  as  the  one  or  the  other  Mode  of  Ratification  may  be  pro 
posed  by  the  Congress ;  Provided  that  no  Amendment  which  may 
be  made  prior  to  the  Year  One  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eight 
shall  in  any  Manner  affect  the  first  and  fourth  Clauses  in  the  Ninth 
Section  of  the  first  Article ;  and  that  no  State,  without  its  Consent, 
shall  be  deprived  of  its  equal  Suffrage  in  the  Senate. 

ARTICLE  VI. 

All  Debts  contracted  and  Engagements  entered  into,  before  the 
Adoption  of  this  Constitution,  shall  be  as  valid  against  the  United 
States  under  this  Constitution,  as  under  the  Confederation. 


1787]  CONSTITUTION   OF  THE   UNITED   STATES  22$ 

This  Constitution,  and  the  Laws  of  the  United  States  which 
shall  be  made  in  Pursuance  thereof;  and  all  Treaties  made,  or 
which  shall  be  made,  under  the  Authority  of  the  United  States, 
shall  be  the  supreme  Law  of  the  Land;  and  the  Judges  in  every 
State  shall  be  bound  thereby,  any  Thing  in  the  Constitution  or 
Laws  of  any  State  to  the  Contrary  notwithstanding. 

The  Senators  and  Representatives  before  mentioned,  and  the 
Members  of  the  several  State  Legislatures,  and  all  executive  and 
judicial  Officers,  both  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  several 
States,  shall  be  bound  by  Oath  or  Affirmation,  to  support  this 
Constitution;  but  no  religious  Test  shall  ever  be  required  as  a 
Qualification  to  any  Office  or  public  Trust  under  the  United 
States. 

ARTICLE  VII. 

The  Ratification  of  the  Conventions  of  nine  States,  shall  be 
sufficient  for  the  Establishment  of  this  Constitution  between  the 
States  so  ratifying  the  Same. 

DONE  in  Convention  by  the  Unanimous  Consent  of  the  States 
present  the  Seventeenth  Day  of  September  in  the  Year  of 
our  Lord  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  Eighty  seven  and 
of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States  of  America  the 
Twelfth  In  Witness  whereof  We  have  hereunto  subscribed 
our  Names, 

G?  WASHINGTON  - 

Presidt,  and  Deputy  from  Virginia  l 

ARTICLES    IN    ADDITION    TO,    AND    AMENDMENT 
OF,  THE   CONSTITUTION.2 

ARTICLE  I. 

Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establishment  of 
religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof ;  or  abridging  the 
freedom  of  speech,  or  of  the  press;  or  the  right  of  the  people 
peaceably  to  assemble,  and  to  petition  the  Government  for  a 
redress  of  grievances. 

1  The  remaining  signatures  are  omitted.  —  ED. 

2  For  the  Thirteenth,  Fourteenth  and  Fifteenth  Amendments,  see  post,  Nos.  144, 
161,  and  167. 


230  CONSTITUTION   OF  THE   UNITED    S1ATES     [Sept.  17 


ARTICLE  II. 

A  well  regulated  Militia,  being  necessary  to  the  security  of  a 
free  State,  the  right  of  the  people  to  keep  and  bear  Arms,  shall 
not  be  infringed. 

ARTICLE  III. 

No  soldier  shall,  in  time  of  peace  be  quartered  in  any  house, 
without  the  consent  of  the  Owner,  nor  in  time  of  war,  but  in  a 
manner  to  be  prescribed  by  law. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

The  right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their  persons,  houses, 
papers,  and  effects,  against  unreasonable  searches  and  seizures, 
shall  not  be  violated,  and  no  Warrants  shall  issue,  but  upon  prob 
able  cause,  supported  by  Oath  or  affirmation,  and  particularly 
describing  the  place  to  be  searched,  and  the  persons  or  things 
to  be  seized. 

ARTICLE  V. 

No  person  shall  be  held  to  answer  for  a  capital,  or  otherwise 
infamous  crime,  unless  on  a  presentment  or  indictment  of  a  Grand 
Jury,  except  in  cases  arising  in  the  land  or  naval  forces,  or  in  the 
Militia,  when  in  actual  service  in  time  of  War  or  in  public  danger; 
nor  shall  any  person  be  subject  for  the  same  offence  to  be  twice 
put  in  jeopardy  of  life  or  limb;  nor  shall  be  compelled  in  any 
Criminal  Case  to  be  a  witness  against  himself,  nor  be  deprived  of 
life,  liberty,  or  property,  without  due  process  of  law;  nor  shall 
private  property  be  taken  for  public  use,  without  just  compensation. 

ARTICLE  VI. 

In  all  criminal  prosecutions  the  accused  shall  enjoy  the  right 
to  a  speedy  and  public  trial,  by  an  impartial  jury  of  the  State  and 
district  wherein  the  crime  shall  have  been  committed,  which  dis 
trict  shall  have  been  previously  ascertained  by  law,  and  to  be 
informed  of  the  nature  and  cause  of  the  accusation;  to  be  con- 


1787]  CONSTITUTION   OF  THE   UNITED    STATES  231 

fronted  with  the  witnesses  against  him ;  to  have  compulsory  process 
for  obtaining  Witnesses  in  his  favor,  and  to  have  the  Assistance 
of  Counsel  for  his  defence. 

ARTICLE  VII. 

In  suits  at  common  law,  where  the  value  in  controversy  shall 
exceed  twenty  dollars,  the  right  of  trial  by  jury  shall  be  preserved, 
and  no  fact  tried  by  a  jury  shall  be  otherwise  re-examined  in  any 
Court  of  the  United  States,  than  according  to  the  rules  of  the 
common  law. 

ARTICLE  VIII. 

Excessive  bail  shall  not  be  required,  nor  excessive  fines  imposed, 
nor  cruel  and  unusual  punishments  inflicted. 

ARTICLE  IX. 

The  enumeration  in  the  Constitution,  of  certain  rights,  shall  not 
be  construed  to  deny  or  disparage  others  retained  by  the  people. 

ARTICLE  X. 

The  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States  by  the  Constitu 
tion,  nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved  to  the  States 
respectively,  or  to  the  people.1 

ARTICLE  XI. 

The  Judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall  not  be  construed 
to  extend  to  any  suit  in  law  or  equity,  commenced  or  prosecuted 
against  one  of  the  United  States  by  Citizens  of  another  state,  or 
by  Citizens  or  Subjects  of  any  Foreign  State.2 

ARTICLE  XII. 

The  Electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  states,  and  vote  by 
ballot  for  President  and  Vice-President,  one  of  whom,  at  least, 
shall  not  be  an  inhabitant  of  the  same  state  with  themselves;  they 

1  The  first  ten  amendments  went  into  effect  Nov.  3,  1791.  —  ED. 

2  In  effect  Jan.  B,  1798.  —  ED. 


232  CONSTITUTION   OF  THE   UNITED    STATES     [Sept.  17 

shall  name  in  their  ballots  the  person  voted  for  as  President,  and 
in  distinct  ballots  the  person  voted  for  as  Vice-President,  and  they 
shall  make  distinct  lists  of  all  persons  voted  for  as  President,  and 
of  all  persons  voted  for  as  Vice-President,  and  of  the  number  of 
votes  for  each,  which  lists  they  shall  sign  and  certify,  and  transmit 
sealed  to  the  seat  of  the  government  of  the  United  States,  directed 
to  the  President  of  the  Senate ;  —  The  President  of  the  Senate 
shall,  in  presence  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives, 
open  all  the  certificates  and  the  votes  shall  then  be  counted ;  — 
The  person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  for  President, 
shall  be  the  President,  if  such  number  be  a  majority  of  the  whole 
number  of  Electors  appointed;  and  if  no  person  have  such  ma 
jority,  then  from  the  persons  having  the  highest  numbers  not 
exceeding  three  on  the  list  of  those  voted  for  as  President,  the 
House  of  Representatives  shall  choose  immediately,  by  ballot,  the 
President.  But  in  choosing  the  President,  the  votes  shall  be  taken 
by  states,  the  representation  from  each  state  having  one  vote;  a 
quorum  for  this  purpose  shall  consist  of  a  member  or  members 
from  two-thirds  of  the  states,  and  a  majority  of  all  the  states  shall 
be  necessary  to  a  choice.  And  if  the  House  of  Representatives 
shall  not  choose  a  President  whenever  the  right  of  choice  shall 
devolve  upon  them,  before  the  fourth  day  of  March  next  following, 
then  the  Vice-President  shall  act  as  President,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  death  or  other  constitutional  disability  of  the  President.  The 
person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  as  Vice-President, 
shall  be  the  Vice-President,  if  such  number  be  a  majority  of  the 
whole  number  of  Electors  appointed,  and  if  no  person  have  a 
majority,  then  from  the  two  highest  numbers  on  the  list,  the  Senate 
shall  choose  the  Vice-President;  a  quorum  for  the  purpose  shall 
consist  of  two-thirds  of  the  whole  number  of  Senators,  and  a 
majority  of  the  whole  number  shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice.  But 
no  person  constitutionally  ineligible  to  the  office  of  President  shall 
be  eligible  to  that  of  Vice-President  of  the  United  States.1 

1  In  effect  Sept.  25,  1804.  —  ED. 


1790]  FIRST   REPORT   ON   PUBLIC   CREDIT  233 

No.  55.     Hamilton's  First   Report  on  Pub 
lic  Credit 

January  9,   1790 

AUGUST  28, 1789,  a  memorial  of  certain  public  creditors  of  Pennsylvania 
was  presented  in  the  House,  "praying  the  aid  and  interposition  of  Congress 
on  behalf  of  the  public  creditors,  by  a  permanent  appropriation  of  adequate 
funds  for  the  punctual  payment  of  the  interest  of  the  public  debt,  or  by  the 
adoption  of  such  other  means  as,  in  the  wisdom  of  Congress,  shall  be  best 
calculated  to  promote  the  public  welfare,  and  render  justice  to  the  individuals 
who  are  interested."  The  memorial  was  referred  to  a  committee,  of  which 
Madison  was  chairman,  which  reported  on  the  loth  in  favor  of  deferring 
action  until  the  next  session.  On  the  2ist,  after  consideration  of  the  report, 
it  was  resolved  "  that  this  House  consider  an  adequate  provision  for  the  sup 
port  of  the  public  credit,  as  a  matter  of  high  importance  to  the  national  honor 
and  prosperity,"  and  "that  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  be  directed  to  pre 
pare  a  plan  for  that  purpose,  and  to  report  the  same  to  this  House  at  its  next 
meeting."  January  14,  1790,  the  report  on  public  credit,  extracts  from  which 
follow,  was  sent  in.  The  report  was  taken  up  Feb.  8,  and  considered  in 
Committee  of  the  Whole  House  until  March  29,  when  eight  resolutions,  agreed 
to  in  committee,  were  reported.  The  first  three  resolutions,  recommending 
payment  of  the  foreign  debt,  together  with  principal  and  interest  of  the  domes 
tic  debt,  were  agreed  to;  the  fourth,  in  favor  of  the  assumption  of  the  State 
debts,  was,  by  a  vote  of  29  to  27,  recommitted;  and  the  remaining  resolutions 
were  laid  on  the  table.  On  the  3oth,  the  last  four  resolutions  were  also  re 
committed.  Consideration  of  the  report  in  Committee  of  the  Whole  House 
was  resumed,  and  April  26,  by  a  vote  of  32  to  18,  the  committee  was  dis 
charged  "for  the  present"  from  further  consideration  of  so  much  of  the  re 
port  as  related  to  assumption.  The  opposition  to  assumption  which  had 
by  this  time  developed,  strengthened  by  the  arrival  of  members  from  North 
Carolina,  bid  fair  to  defeat  the  scheme.  In  the  meantime,  the  plan  for  the 
location  of  the  national  capital  had  met  with  difficulty,  owing  to  the  rival  in 
terests  of  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia.  Hamilton  made  use  of  Jefferson's 
influence  to  arrange  a  compromise,  by  which,  in  return  for  votes  in  favor 
of  assumption,  the  capital  was  to  be  located  at  Philadelphia  for  ten  years, 
and  thereafter  permanently  on  the  Potomac.  Acts  of  Aug.  4,  10,  and  12, 
1790,  provided  for  the  settlement  of  the  public  debt  and  for  increased 
duties  on  imports,  substantially  as  suggested  by  Hamilton. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Amer.  State  Papers,  Finance,  I.,  15-25.  For  the 
proceedings  of  the  House,  see  the  Journal,  ist  Cong.,  ist  and  2d  Sess.  ;  for 
the  discussions,  see  the  Annals  of  Congress,  or  Benton's  Abridgment,  I.  The 
memorial  presented  Aug.  28  is  in  the  Annals ;  for  resolutions  and  memorials 
against  the  act  of  Aug.  4,  1790,  see  Amer.  State  Papers,  Finance,  I.,  76-81, 
90,  91.  A  contemporary  view  of  the  funding  system  is  in  Carey's  Amer. 


234  FIRST   REPORT    ON   PUBLIC   CREDIT  [Jan.  g 

Museum,  VI.,  91-98.  On  Hamilton's  financial  policy  in  general,  see  Lodge's 
Hamilton,  chaps.  5,  6.  See  also  Hamilton's  Works  (ed.  1851),  V.,  454-459  ; 
Jefferson's  Works  (ed.  1854),  IX.,  91-96;  Madison's  Writings  (ed.  1865), 
I.,  490-496,  5OI»  5°7-522- 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT, 

January  9,  1790. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in  obedience  to  the  resolution 
of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  twenty-first  day  of  Septem 
ber  last,  has,  during  the  recess  of  Congress,  applied  himself  to 
the  consideration  of  a  proper  plan  for  the  support  of  the  public 
credit,  with  all  the  attention  which  was  due  to  the  authority  of 
the  House,  and  to  the  magnitude  of  the  object.  .  .  . 

In  the  opinion  of  the  Secretary,  the  wisdom  of  the  House,  in 
giving  their  explicit  sanction  to  the  proposition  which  has  been 
stated,  cannot  but  be  applauded  by  all  who  will  seriously  consider 
and  trace,  through  their  obvious  consequences,  these  plain  and 
undeniable  truths: 

That  exigencies  are  to  be  expected  to  occur,  in  the  affairs  of 
nations,  in  which  there  will  be  a  necessity  for  borrowing; 

That  loans  in  times  of  public  danger,  especially  from  foreign 
war,  are  found  an  indispensable  resource,  even  to  the  wealthiest 
of  them; 

And  that,  in  a  country  which,  like  this,  is  possessed  of  little 
active  wealth,  or,  in  other  words,  little  moneyed  capital,  the  neces 
sity  for  that  resource  must,  in  such  emergencies,  be  proportionably 
urgent. 

And  as,  on  the  one  hand,  the  necessity  for  borrowing,  in  par 
ticular  emergencies,  cannot  be  doubted;  so,  on  the  other,  it  is 
equally  evident,  that,  to  be  able  to  borrow  upon  good  terms, 
it  is  essential  that  the  credit  of  a  nation  should  be  well  estab 
lished.  .  .  . 

If  the  maintenance  of  public  credit,  then,  be  truly  so  important, 
the  next  inquiry  which  suggests  itself  is,  By  what  means  it  is  to  be 
effected  ?  The  ready  answer  to  which  question  is,  by  good  faith  : 
by  a  punctual  performance  of  contracts.  States,  like  individuals, 
who  observe  their  engagements,  are  respected  and  trusted,  while 
the  reverse  is  the  fate  of  those  who  pursue  an  opposite  con 
duct.  .  .  . 

While  the  observance  of  that  good  faith,  which  is  the  basis  of 


1790]  FIRST   REPORT   ON   PUBLIC  CREDIT  235 

public  credit,  is  recommended  by  the  strongest  inducements  of 
political  expediency,  it  is  enforced  by  considerations  of  still  greater 
authority.  There  are  arguments  for  it  which  rest  on  the  immutable 
principles  of  moral  obligation.  .  .  . 

This  reflection  derives  additional  strength  from  the  nature  of 
the  debt  of  the  United  States.  It  was  the  price  of  liberty.  The 
faith  of  America  has  been  repeatedly  pledged  for  it,  and  with 
solemnities  that  give  peculiar  force  to  the  obligation.  There  is, 
indeed,  reason  to  regret  that  it  has  not  hitherto  been  kept;  that 
the  necessities  of  the  war,  conspiring  with  inexperience,  in  the 
subjects  of  finance,  produced  direct  infractions;  and  that  the  sub 
sequent  period  has  been  a  continued  scene  of  negative  violation, 
or  non-compliance.  But  a  diminution  of  this  regret  arises  from 
the  reflection,  that  the  last  seven  years  have  exhibited  an  earnest 
and  uniform  effort,  on  the  part  of  the  Government  of  the  Union, 
to  retrieve  the  national  credit,  by  doing  justice  to  the  creditors 
of  the  nation ;  and  that  the  embarrassments  of  a  defective  consti 
tution,  which  defeated  this  laudable  effort,  have  ceased. 

From  this  evidence  of  a  favorable  disposition  given  by  the 
former  Government,  the  institution  of  a  new  one,  clothed  with 
powers  competent  to  calling  forth  the  resources  of  the  community, 
has  excited  correspondent  expectations.  A  general  belief  accord 
ingly  prevails,  that  the  credit  of  the  United  States  will  quickly  be 
established  on  the  firm  foundation  of  an  effectual  provision  for  the 
existing  debt.  The  influence  which  this  has  had  at  home,  is 
witnessed  by  the  rapid  increase  that  has  taken  place  in  the  market 
value  of  the  public  securities.  From  January  to  November,  they 
rose  thirty-three  and  a  third  per  cent. ;  and  from  that  period  to 
this  time,  they  have  risen  fifty  per  cent,  .more;  and  the  intelli 
gence  from  abroad  announces  effects  proportionably  favorable  to 
our  national  credit  and  consequence.  .  .  . 

The  advantage  to  the  public  creditors,  from  the  increased  value 
of  that  part  of  their  property  which  constitutes  the  public  debt, 
needs  no  explanation. 

But  there  is  a  consequence  of  this,  less  obvious,  though  not  less 
true,  in  which  every  other  citizen  is  interested.  It  is  a  well  known 
fact,  that,  in  countries  in  which  the  national  debt  is  properly 
funded,  and  an  object  of  established  confidence,  it  answers  most 
of  the  purposes  of  money.  Transfers  of  stock  or  public  debt,  are 


236  FIRST   REPORT   ON   PUBLIC    CREDIT  [Jan.  g 

there  equivalent  to  payments  in  specie ;  or,  in  other  words,  stock, 
in  the  principal  transactions  of  business,  passes  current  as  specie. 
The  same  thing  would,  in  all  probability,  happen  here  under  the 
like  circumstances.  .  .  . 

It  ought  not,  however,  to  be  expected,  that  the  advantages 
described  as  likely  to  result  from  funding  the  public  debt,  would 
be  instantaneous.  It  might  require  some  time  to  bring  the  value 
of  stock  to  its  natural  level,  and  to  attach  to  it  that  fixed  con 
fidence,  which  is  necessary  to  its  quality  as  money.  Yet  the  late 
rapid  rise  of  the  public  securities  encourages  an  expectation  that 
the  progress  of  stock,  to  the  desirable  point,  will  be  much  more 
expeditious  than  could  have  been  foreseen.  And  as,  in  the  mean 
time,  it  will  be  increasing  in  value,  there  is  room  to  conclude  that 
it  will,  from  the  outset,  answer  many  of  the  purposes  in  contempla 
tion.  Particularly,  it  seems  to  be  probable,  that  from  creditors, 
who  are  not  themselves  necessitous,  it  will  early  meet  with  a  ready 
reception  in  payment  of  debts,  at  its  current  price. 

Having  now  taken  a  concise  view  of  the  inducements  to  a 
proper  provision  for  the  public  debt,  the  next  inquiry  which  pre 
sents  itself  is,  What  ought  to  be  the  nature  of  such  a  provision? 
This  requires  some  preliminary  discussions. 

It  is  agreed  on  all  hands,  that  that  part  of  the  debt  which  has 
been  contracted  abroad,  and  is  denominated  the  foreign  debt, 
ought  to  be  provided  for  according  to  the  precise  terms  of  the 
contracts  relating  to  it.  The  discussions  which  can  arise,  there 
fore,  will  have  reference  essentially  to  the  domestic  part  of  it,  or 
to  that  which  has  been  contracted  at  home.  It  is  to  be  regretted 
that  there  is  not  the  same  unanimity  of  sentiment  on  this  part  as 
on  the  other. 

The  Secretary  has  too  much  deference  for  the  opinions  of  every 
part  of  the  community,  not  to  have  observed  one,  which  has  more 
than  once  made  its  appearance  in  the  public  prints,  and  which  is 
occasionally  to  be  met  with  in  conversation.  It  involves  this 
question :  Whether  a  discrimination  ought  not  to  be  made  between 
original  holders  of  the  public  securities,  and  present  possessors, 
by  purchase?  Those  who  advocate  a  discrimination,  are  for 
making  a  full  provision  for  the  securities  of  the  former  at  their 
nominal  value;  but  contend  that  the  latter  ought  to  receive  no 
more  than  the  cost  to  them,  and  the  interest.  And  the  idea  is 


FIRST    REPORT   ON   PUBLIC   CREDIT  237 

sometimes  suggested,  of  making  good  the  difference  to  the  primi 
tive  possessor. 

In  favor  of  this  scheme,  it  is  alleged,  that  it  would  be  unreason 
able  to  pay  twenty  shillings  in  the  pound,  to  one  who  had  not 
given  more  for  it  than  three  or  four.  And  it  is  added,  that  it 
would  be  hard  to  aggravate  the  misfortune  of  the  first  owner,  who, 
probably,  through  necessity,  parted  with  his  property  at  so  great  a 
loss,  by  obliging  him  to  contribute  to  the  profit  of  the  person  who 
had  speculated  on  his  distresses. 

The  Secretary,  after  the  most  mature  reflection  on  the  force  of 
this  argument,  is  induced  to  reject  the  doctrine  it  contains,  as 
equally  unjust  and  impolitic;  as  highly  injurious,  even  to  the 
original  holders  of  public  securities;  as  ruinous  to  public 
credit. 

It  is  inconsistent  with  justice,  because,  in  the  first  place,  it 
is  a  breach  of  contract  —  a  violation  of  the  rights  of  a  fair 
purchaser. 

The  nature  of  the  contract,  in  its  origin,  is,  that  the  public  will 
pay  the  sum  expressed  in  the  security,  to  the  first  holder  or  his 
assignee.  The  intent  in  making  the  security  assignable,  is,  that 
the  proprietor  may  be  able  to  make  use  of  his  property,  by  selling 
it  for  as  much  as  it  may  be  worth  in  the  market,  and  that 
the  buyer  may  be  safe  in  the  purchase. 

Every  buyer,  therefore,  stands  exactly  in  the  place  of  the  seller; 
has  the  same  right  with  him  to  the  identical  sum  expressed  in 
the  security;  and,  having  acquired  that  right,  by  fair  purchase, 
and  in  conformity  to  the  original  agreement  and  intention  of  the 
Government,  his  claim  cannot  be  disputed,  without  manifest  in 
justice.  .  .  . 

The  impolicy  of  a  discrimination  results  from  two  considera 
tions:  One,  that  it  proceeds  upon  a  principle  destructive  of  that 
quality  of  the  public  debt,  or  the  stock  of  the  nation,  which  is 
essential  to  its  capacity  for  answering  the  purposes  of  money, 
that  is,  the  security  of  transfer;  the  other,  that,  as  well  on  this 
account  as  because  it  includes  a  breach  of  faith,  it  renders  prop 
erty,  in  the  funds,  less  valuable,  consequently,  induces  lenders  to 
demand  a  higher  premium  for  what  they  lend,  and  produces  every 
other  inconvenience  of  a  bad  state  of  public  credit. 

It  will  be  perceived,  at  first  sight,  that  the  transferable  quality 


FIRST   REPORT    ON    PUBLIC   CREDIT  [Jan.  g 

of  stock  is  essential  to  its  operation  as  money,  and  that  this 
depends  on  the  idea  of  complete  security  to  the  transferee,  and  a 
firm  persuasion,  that  no  distinction  can,  in  any  circumstances,  be 
made  between  him  and  the  original  proprietor. 

The  precedent  of  an  invasion  of  this  fundamental  principle, 
would,  of  course,  tend  to  deprive  the  community  of  an  advantage 
with  which  no  temporary  saving  could  bear  the  least  compari 
son. 

And  it  will  as  readily  be  perceived  that  the  same  cause  would 
operate  a  diminution  of  the  value  of  stock  in  the  hands  of  the  first 
as  well  as  of  every  other  holder.  The  price  which  any  man  who 
should  incline  to  purchase,  would  be  willing  to  give  for  it,  would 
be  in  a  compound  ratio  to  the  immediate  profit  it  afforded,  and 
the  chance  of  the  continuance  of  his  profit.  If  there  was  supposed 
to  be  any  hazard  of  the  latter,  the  risk  would  be  taken  into  the 
calculation,  and  either  there  would  be  no  purchase  at  all,  or  it 
would  be  at  a  proportionably  less  price.  .  .  . 

But  there  is  still  a  point  in  view,  in  which  it  will  appear  per 
haps  even  more  exceptionable  than  in  either  of  the  former.  It 
would  be  repugnant  to  an  express  provision  of  the  constitution  of 
the  United  States.  This  provision  is,  that  "all  debts  contracted, 
and  engagements  entered  into,  before  the  adoption  of  that  con 
stitution,  shall  be  as  valid  against  the  United  States  under  it,  as 
under  the  Confederation;"  which  amounts  to  a  constitutional 
ratification  of  the  contracts  respecting  the  debt,  in  the  state  in 
which  they  existed  under  the  confederation.  And,  resorting  to 
that  standard,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  rights  of  assignees 
and  original  holders  must  be  considered  as  equal.  .  .  . 

The  Secretary,  concluding  that  a  discrimination  between  the 
different  classes  of  creditors  of  the  United  States  cannot,  with 
propriety,  be  made,  proceeds  to  examine  whether  a  difference 
ought  to  be  permitted  to  remain  between  them  and  another 
description  of  public  creditors  —  those  of  the  States,  individually. 
The  Secretary,  after  mature  reflection  on  this  point,  entertains  a 
full  conviction,  that  an  assumption  of  the  debts  of  the  particular 
States  by  the  Union,  and  a  like  provision  for  them,  as  for  those 
of  the  Union,  will  be  a  measure  of  sound  policy  and  substantial 
justice.  .  .  . 

There  are  several  reasons,  which  render  it  probable  that  the 


1790]  FIRST    REPORT    ON    PUBLIC    CREDIT  239 

situation  of  the  State  creditors  would  be  worse  than  that  of  the 
creditors  of  the  Union,  if  there  be  not  a  national  assumption  of 
the  State  debts.  Of  these  it  will  be  sufficient  to  mention  two: 
one,  that  a  principal  branch  of  revenue  is  exclusively  vested  in  the 
Union;  the  other,  that  a  State  must  always  be  checked  in  the 
imposition  of  taxes  on  articles  of  consumption,  from  the  Want  of 
power  to  extend  the  same  regulation  to  the  other  States,  and  from 
the  tendency  of  partial  duties  to  injure  its  industry  and  commerce. 
Should  the  State  creditors  stand  upon  a  less  eligible  footing  than 
the  others,  it  is  unnatural  to  expect  they  would  see  with  pleasure 
a  provision  for  them.  The  influence  which  their  dissatisfaction 
might  have,  could  not  but  operate  injuriously,  both  for  the  cred 
itors  and  the  credit  of  the  United  States.  Hence  it  is  even  the 
interest  of  the  creditors  of  the  Union,  that  those  of  the  individual 
States  should  be  comprehended  in  a  general  provision.  Any 
attempt  to  secure  to  the  former  either  exclusive  or  peculiar  advan 
tages,  would  materially  hazard  their  interests.  Neither  would  it 
be  just,  that  one  class  of  public  creditors  should  be  more  favored 
than  the  other.  The  objects  for  which  both  descriptions  of 
the  debt  were  contracted,  are  in  the  main  the  same.  Indeed,  a 
great  part  of  the  particular  debts  of  the  States  has  arisen  from 
assumptions  by  them  on  account  of  the  Union.  And  it  is  most 
equitable,  that  there  should  be  the  same  measure  of  retribution  for 
all.  .  .  . 

There  is  good  reason  to  conclude,  that  the  impressions  of  many 
are  more  favorable  to  the  claim  of  the  principal,  than  to  that  of 
the  interest;  at  least  so  far  as  to  produce  an  opinion,  that  an 
inferior  provision  might  suffice  for  the  latter. 

But,  to  the  Secretary,  this  opinion  does  not  appear  to  be  well 
founded.  His  investigations  of  the  subject  have  led  him  to  a  con 
clusion,  that  the  arrears  of  interest  have  pretensions  at  least  equal 
to  the  principal.  .  .  . 

The  result  of  the  foregoing  discussions  is  this :  That  there  ought 
to  be  no  discrimination  between  the  original  holders  of  the  debt, 
and  present  possessors  by  purchase.  That  it  is  expedient  there 
should  be  an  assumption  of  the  State  debts  by  the  Union,  and 
that  the  arrears  of  interest  should  be  provided  for  on  an  equal 
footing  writh  the  principal. 

The  next  inquiry,  in  order,  towards  determining  the  nature  of 


240 


FIRST   REPORT   ON   PUBLIC   CREDIT 


[Jan.  9 


a  proper  provision,  respects  the  quantum  of  the  debt,  and  the 
present  rates  of  interest. 

The  debt  of  the  Union  is  distinguishable  into  foreign  and 
domestic. 
The    foreign    debt,    as    stated    in    schedule    B, 

amounts  to,  principal,          ....     $10,070,307  oo 
Bearing  an  interest  of  four,  and  partly  an 

interest  of  five  per  cent. 
Arrears  of   interest   to   the  last  of   December, 

1789 1,640,071  62 


Making,  together 


.     $11,710,378  62 


The  domestic  debt  may  be  subdivided  into 
liquidated  and  unliquidated;   principal  and 
interest. 
The  principal  of  the  liquidated  part,  as  stated 

in  the  schedule  C,  amounts  to      ...     $27,383,917  74 
Bearing  an  interest  of  six  per  cent. 
The  arrears  of  interest,  as  stated  in  the  sched 
ule  D,  to  the  end  of  1790,  amount  to       .         .       13,030,16820 


Making,  together 


.     $40,414,085  94 


The  unliquidated  part  of  the  domestic  debt,  which  consists 
chiefly  of  the  continental  bills  of  credit,  is  not  ascertained,  but 
may  be  estimated  at  2,000,000  dollars. 

These  several  sums  constitute  the  whole  of  the  debt  of  the 
United  States,  amounting  together  to  $54,124,464  56.  That  of 
the  individual  States  is  not  equally  well  ascertained.  .  .  .  The 
Secretary,  however,  presumes  that  the  total  amount  may  be  safely 
stated  at  twenty-five  millions  of  dollars,  principal  and  interest.  .  .  . 

On  the  supposition  that  the  arrears  of  interest  ought  to  be  pro 
vided  for  on  the  same  terms  with  the  principal,  the  annual  amount 
of  the  interest,  which,  at  the  existing  rates,  would  be  payable  on 
the  entire  mass  of  the  public  debt,  would  be  — 


1790]  FIRST   REPORT   ON   PUBLIC    CREDIT  241 

On  the  foreign  debt,  computing  the  interest  on  the 

principal,  as  it  stands,  and  allowing  four  per 

cent,  on  the  arrears  of  interest,   .         .        ...        $542,599  66 

On  the  domestic  debt,  including  that  of  the  States      4,044,845  15 

Making,  together,      -.        .        .      $4,587,444  81 

The  interesting  problem  now  occurs:  Is  it  in  the  power  of  the 
United  States,  consistently  with  those  prudential  considerations 
which  ought  not  to  be  overlooked,  to  make  a  provision  equal  to 
the  purpose  of  funding  the  whole  debt,  at  the  rates  of  interest 
which  it  now  bears,  in  addition  to  the  sum  which  will  be  neces 
sary  for  the  current  service  of  the  Government? 

The  Secretary  will  not  say  that  such  a  provision  would  exceed 
the  abilities  of  the  country;  but  he  is  clearly  of  opinion  that,  to 
make  it,  would  require  the  extension  of  taxation  to  a  degree,  and 
to  objects,  which  the  true  interest  of  the  public  creditors  forbids. 
It  is  therefore  to  be  hoped,  and  even  to  be  expected,  that  they 
will  cheerfully  concur  in  such  modifications  of  their  claims,  on 
fair  and  equitable  principles,  as  will  facilitate  to  the  Govern 
ment  an  arrangement  substantial,  durable,  and  satisfactory  to  the 
community.  .  .  . 

Probabilities  are  always  a  rational  ground  of  contract.  The 
Secretary  conceives,  that  there  is  good  reason  to  believe,  if  effectual 
measures  are  taken  to  establish  public  credit,  that  the  Government 
rate  of  interest  in  the  United  States  will,  in  a  very  short  time,  fall 
at  least  as  low  as  five  per  cent. ;  and  that,  in  a  period  not  exceed 
ing  twenty  years,  it  will  sink  still  lower,  probably  to  four.  There 
are  two  principal  causes  which  will  be  likely  to  produce  this 
effect;  one,  the  low  rate  of  interest  in  Europe;  the  other,  the 
increase  of  the  moneyed  capital  of  the  nation,  by  the  funding  of 
the  public  debt.  .  .  . 

Premising  these  things,  the  Secretary  submits  to  the  House 
the  expediency  of  proposing  a  loan,  to  the  full  amount  of  the 
debt,  as  well  of  the  particular  States  as  of  the  Union,  upon  the 
following  terms : 

First.  That,  for  every  hundred  dollars  subscribed,  payable  in 
the  debt,  (as  well  interest  as  principal)  the  subscriber  be  entitled, 
at  his  option,  either  to  have  two-thirds  funded  at  an  annuity  or 
yearly  interest  of  six  per  cent.,  redeemable  at  the  pleasure  of  the 


242  FIRST   REPORT   ON   PUBLIC   CREDIT  [Jan.  g 

Government,  by  payment  of  the  principal,  and  to  receive  the 
other  third  in  lands  in  the  western  territory,  at  the  rate  of  twenty 
cents  per  acre ;  or,  to  have  the  whole  sum  funded  at  an  annuity 
or  yearly  interest  of  four  per  cent.,  irredeemable  by  any  payment 
exceeding  five  dollars  per  annum,  on  account  both  of  principal 
and  interest,  and  to  receive,  as  a  compensation  for  the  reduction 
of  interest,  fifteen  dollars  and  eighty  cents,  payable  in  lands,  as  in 
the  preceding  case;  or,  to  have  sixty-six  dollars  and  two-thirds  of 
a  dollar  funded  immediately,  at  an  annuity  or  yearly  interest  of 
six  per  cent.,  irredeemable  by  any  payment  exceeding  four  dollars 
and  two-thirds  of  a  dollar  per  annum,  on  account  both  of  principal 
and  interest,  and  to  have,  at  the  end  of  ten  years,  twenty-six 
dollars  and  eighty -eight  cents  funded  at  the  like  interest  and  rate 
of  redemption;  or,  to  have  an  annuity,  for  the  remainder  of  life, 
upon  the  contingency  of  fixing  to  a  given  age,  not  less  distant 
than  ten  years,  computing  interest  at  four  per  cent.;  or,  to  have 
an  annuity,  for  the  remainder  of  life,  upon  the  contingency  of  the 
survivership  of  the  youngest  of  two  persons,  computing  interest  in 
this  case  also  at  four  per  cent. 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing  loan,  payable  wholly  in  the  debt, 
the  Secretary  would  propose  that  one  should  be  opened  for  ten 
millions  of  dollars,  on  the  following  plan  : 

That,  for  every  hundred  dollars  subscribed,  payable  one  half  in 
specie,  and  the  other  half  in  debt,  (as  well  principal  as  interest) 
the  subscriber  be  entitled  to  an  annuity  or  yearly  interest  of  five 
per  cent.,  irredeemable  by  any  payment  exceeding  six  dollars  per 
annum,  on  account  both  of  principal  and  interest.  [The  details 
of  these  various  plans  are  then  discussed  at  length.] 

In  order  to  keep  up  a  due  circulation  of  money,  it  will  be  ex 
pedient  that  the  interest  of  the  debt  should  be  paid  quarter- 
yearly.  .  .  . 

The  remaining  part  of  the  task  to  be  performed  is  to  take  a 
view  of  the  means  of  providing  for  the  debt,  according  to  the 
modification  of  it  which  is  proposed.  .  .  . 

...  to  pay  the  interest  of  the  foreign  debt,  and  to  pay  four  per 
cent,  on  the  whole  of  the  domestic  debt,  principal  and  interest, 
forming  a  new  capital,  will  require  a  yearly  income  of  $2,239,163,09 
—  the  sum  which,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Secretary,  ought  now  to  be 
provided,  in  addition  to  what  the  current  service  will  require.  .  .  . 


1790]  PROCLAMATION   OF  NEUTRALITY  243 

With  regard  to  the  instalments  of  the  foreign  debt,  these,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  Secretary,  ought  to  be  paid  by  new  loans  abroad. 
Could  funds  be  conveniently  spared  from  other  exigencies,  for 
paying  them,  the  United  States  could  illy  bear  the  drain  of  cash, 
at  the  present  juncture,  which  th-  measure  would  be  likely  to 
occasion. 

But  to  the  sum  which  has  been  stated  for  payment  of  the  in 
terest,  must  be  added  a  provision  for  the  current  service.  This 
the  Secretary  estimates  at  six  hundred  thousand  dollars,  making, 
with  the  amount  of  the  interest,  two  millions  eight  hundred  and 
thirty-nine  thousand  one  hundred  and  sixcy-three  dollars  and  nine 
cents. 

This  sum  may,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Secretary,  be  obtained 
from  the  present  duties  on  imports  and  tonnage,  with  the  addi 
tions  which,  without  any  possible  disadvantage,  either  to  trade  or 
agriculture,  may  be  made  on  wines,  spirits,  (including  those  dis 
tilled  within  the  United  States)  teas  and  coffee.  [A  discussion  of 
this  point,  with  a  detailed  statement  of  the  proposed  duties, 
follows.] 
******** 


N.o.  56.     Proclamation  of  Neutrality 

April  22,  1793 

THE  declaration  of  war  made  by  France  against  Great  Britain  and  Holland 
reached  the  United  States  early  in  April,  1793.  Washington  was  at  Mount 
Vernon.  April  12  he  addressed  letters  to  the  Secretaries  of  State  and  of  the 
Treasury,  "requesting  their  immediate  attention  to  the  question  of  privateer 
ing";  on  the  1 7th  he  reached  Philadelphia.  On  the  following  day  Washing 
ton  sent  to  the  members  of  the  cabinet  a  circular  letter  containing  thirteen 
questions,  framed  by  Hamilton,  relative  to  the  proper  conduct  of  the  United 
States  in  view  of  a  European  war.  The  members  of  the  cabinet,  with  the 
Attorney-General,  met  on  the  igih  at  Washington's  house,  and  unanimously 
decided  in  favor  of  the  issuance  of  a  proclamation  of  neutrality.  Randolph 
was  directed  to  draw' up  the  proclamation;  on  the  22d  it  was  submitted  to 
the  President,  approved,  signed,  and  ordered  to  be  published.  The  procla 
mation  was  communicated  to  Congress  Dec.  3. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Amer.  State  Papers,  Foreign  Relations,  L,  140. 
Washington's  letter  to  the  cabinet,  and  the  accompanying  questions,  are 
given  in  Sparks,  Writings  of  Washington,  X.,  337,  533,  534.  Jefferson's 


244  JAY  TREATY  [November  19 

account  of  the  cabinet  meeting  at  which  the  proclamation  was  discussed  is  in 
his  Works  (ed.  1854),  IX.,  142,  143;  for  his  own  views  on  the  subject,  ib., 
IV.,  17-20,  29-31.  For  the  controversy  between  Hamilton  and  Madison, 
under  the  names  of  "Pacificus"  and  "Helvidius,"  see  Hamilton's  Works 
ed.  1851),  VII.,  76-117,  and  Madiso.i's  Writings  (ed.  1865),  I.,  611-654. 

WHEREAS  it  appears  that  as:  te  of  war  exists  between  Austria, 
Prussia,  Sardinia,  Great  Britain  and  the  United  Netherlands,  of 
the  one  part,  and  France  on  th-  other;  and  the  duty  and  inter 
est  of  the  United  States  requ:re,  that  they  should  with  sincerity 
and  good  faith  adopt  and  pursue  a  conduct  friendly  and  impartial 
toward  the  belligerent  Powers : 

I  have  therefore  thought  fit  by  these  presents  to  declare  the 
disposition  of  the  United  States  to  observe  the  conduct  aforesaid 
towards  those  Powers  respectively;  and  to  exhort  and  warn  the 
citizens  of  the  United  States  carefully  to  avoid  all  acts  and  pro 
ceedings  whatsoever,  which  may  in  any  manner  tend  to  contra 
vene  such  disposition. 

And  I  do  hereby  also  make  known,  that  whosoever  of  the  citi 
zens  of  the  United  States  shall  render  himself  liable  to  punish 
ment  or  forfeiture  under  the  law  of  nations,  by  committing,  aiding, 
or  abetting  hostilities  against  any  of  the  said  Powers,  or  by  carry 
ing  to  any  of  them  those  articles  which  are  deemed  contraband 
by  the  modern  usage  of  nations,  will  not  receive  the  protection  of 
the  United  States,  against  such  punishment  or  forfeiture;  and 
further,  that  I  have  given  instructions  to  those  officers,  to  whom 
it  belongs,  to  cause  prosecutions  to  be  instituted  against  all  per 
sons,  who  shall,  within  the  cognizance  of  the  courts  of  the  United 
States,  violate  the  law  of  nations,  with  respect  to  the  Powers  at 
war,  or  any  of  them.  .  .  . 

GEO.  WASHINGTON. 


No.  57.     Treaty  with  Great  Britain 

November  19,  1794 

THE  non-observance  by  Great  Britain  of  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  of  1783 
in  regard  to  the  carrying  away  of  slaves  and  the  withdrawal  of  troops  led  to 
extended  but  fruitless  diplomatic  correspondence.  In  the  autumn  of  1793 
relations  between  the  two  countries  were  further  strained  by  the  admiralty 


i794]  JAY  TREATY  245 

orders  for  the  seizure  of  neutral  vessels  laden  with  provisions  destined  for 
French  ports.  April  16,  1794,  Washington  nominated  John  Jay,  chief  justice 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  as  envoy  extraordinary  to  negotiate  with  Great  Britain. 
By  a  vote  of  18  to  8  the  nomination  was  confirmed.  Jay  reached  London 
June  15,  and  Nov.  19  the  treaty  was  concluded.  The  treaty  was  submitted  to 
the  Senate,  in  special  session,  June  8,  1795;  on  the  24th  ratification  was  ad 
vised,  with  a  special  reservation  as  to  the  twelfth  article.  An  act  of  May  8, 
1796,  made  appropriations  for  carrying  the  treaty  into  effect. 

REFERENCES.  — •  Text  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  VIII.,  116-129.  Jay's  in 
structions  and  the  diplomatic  correspondence  are  in  Amer.  State  Papers, 
Foreign  Relations,  L,  472-520.  The  proceedings  of  the  Senate  are  in  the 
Annals,  3d  Cong.,  854-868;  discussions  in  the  House  are  in  the  Annals,  4th 
Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  426-783,  and  in  Benton's  Abridgment,  I.,  639-754.  Wash 
ington's  message  refusing  compliance  with  the  request  of  the  House  for  papers 
relating  to  the  treaty  is  in  Amer.  State  Papers  (Wait's  ed.,  1817),  II.,  102-105. 
For  Hamilton's  objections  to  the  treaty  when  first  made  known,  see  Gibbs's 
Administrations  of  Washington  and  Adams,  I.,  223,  224;  for  his  later  views, 
over  names  of  "Horatius"  and  "Camillus,"  see  his  Works  (ed.  1851),  VII., 
169-528.  See  also  Works  of  Fisher  Ames  (ed.  1809),  58-93,  speech  on  the 
treaty;  Wharton's  Digest  of  Intern.  Law  (ed.  1887),  II.,  161-163;  and  ib.} 
II.,  158,  159,  for  references  to  judicial  decisions  involving  the  treaty. 
******** 


ARTICLE  I. 

There  shall  be  a  firm,  inviolable  and  universal  peace,  and  a 
true  and  sincere  friendship  between  his  Britannic  Majesty,  his 
heirs  and  successors,  and  the  United  States  of  America;  and 
between  their  respective  countries,  territories,  cities,  towns  and 
people  of  every  degree,  without  exception  of  persons  or  places. 

ARTICLE  II. 

His  Majesty  will  withdraw  all  his  troops  and  garrisons  from 
all  posts  and  places  within  the  boundary  lines  assigned  by  the 
treaty  of  peace  to  the  United  States.  This  evacuation  shall  take 
place  on  or  before  .  .  .  [June  i,  1796,]  .  .  .  :  The  United  States 
in  the  mean  time  at  their  discretion,  extending  their  settlements  to 
any  part  within  the  said  boundary  line,  except  within  the  pre 
cincts  or  jurisdiction  of  any  of  the  said  posts.  All  settlers  and 
traders,  within  the  precincts  or  jurisdiction  of  the  said  posts, 
shall  continue  to  enjoy,  unmolested,  all  their  property  of  every 
kind,  and  shall  be  protected  therein.  They  shall  be  at  full  lib- 


246  JAY  TREATY  [November  19 

erty  to  remain  there,  or  to  remove  with  all  or  any  part  of  their 
effects ;  and  it  shall  also  be  free  to  them  to  sell  their  lands,  houses, 
or  effects,  or  to  retain  the  property  thereof,  at  their  discretion; 
such  of  them  as  shall  continue  to  reside  within  the  said  boundary 
lines,  shall  not  be  compelled  to  become  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  or  to  take  any  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  government  thereof ; 
but  they  shall  be  at  full  liberty  so  to  do  if  they  think  proper,  and 
they  shall  make  and  declare  their  election  within  one  year  after 
the  evacuation  aforesaid.  And  all  persons  who  shall  continue 
there  after  the  expiration  of  the  said  year,  without  having  declared 
their  intention  of  remaining  subjects  of  his  Britannic  Majesty, 
shall  be  considered  as  having  elected  to  become  citizens  of  the 
United  States. 

ARTICLE   III.1 

It  is  agreed  that  it  shall  at  all  times  be  free  to  his  Majesty's 
subjects,  and  to  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  also  to  the 
Indians  dwelling  on  either  side  of  the  said  boundary  line,  freely 
to  pass  and  repass  by  land  or  inland  navigation,  into  the  respec 
tive  territories  and  countries  of  the  two  parties,  on  the  continent 
of  America  (the  country  within  the  limits  of  the  Hudson's  bay 
Company  only  excepted)  and  to  navigate  all  the  lakes,  rivers 
and  waters  thereof,  and  freely  to  carry  on  trade  and  commerce 
with  each  other.  But  it  is  understood,  that  this  article  does  not 
extend  to  the  admission  of  vessels  of  the  United  States  into  the 
sea-ports,  harbours,  bays,  or  creeks  of  his  Majesty's  said  territo 
ries;  nor  into  such  parts  of  the  rivers  in  his  Majesty's  said  terri 
tories  as  are  between  the  mouth  thereof,  and  the  highest  port  of 
entry  from  the  sea,  except  in  small  vessels  trading  bona  fide 
between  Montreal  and  Quebec,  under  such  regulations  as  shall 
be  established  to  prevent  the  possibility  of  any  frauds  in  this 
respect.  Nor  to  the  admission  of  British  vessels  from  the  sea 
into  the  rivers  of  the  United  States,  beyond  the  highest  ports  of 
entry  for  foreign  vessels  from  the  sea.  The  river  Mississippi 
shall,  however,  according  to  the  treaty  of  peace,  be  entirely  open 
to  both  parties;  and  it  is  further  agreed,  that  all  the  ports  and 
places  on  its  eastern  side,  to  whichsoever  of  the  parties  belonging, 

1  See  explanatory  article,  May  4,  1796:  Treaties  and  Conventions  (ed.  1889), 
295,  296. —  ED. 


i794]  JAY  TREATY  247 

may  freely  be  resorted  to  and  used  by  both  parties,  in  as  ample 
a  manner  as  any  of  the  Atlantic  ports  or  places  of  the  United 
States,  or  any  of  the  ports  or  places  of  his  Majesty  in  Great- 
Britain. 

All  goods  and  merchandize  whose  importation  into  his  Maj 
esty's  said  territories  in  America,  shall  not  be  entirely  prohibited, 
may  freely,  for  the  purposes  of  commerce,  be  carried  into  the 
same  in  the  manner  aforesaid,  by  the  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
and  such  goods  and  merchandize  shall  be  subject  to  no  higher  or 
other  duties,  than  would  be  payable  by  his  Majesty's  subjects 
on  the  importation  of  the  same  from  Europe  into  the  said  territories. 
And  in  like  manner,  all  goods  and  merchandize  whose  importation 
into  the  United  States  shall  not  be  wholly  prohibited,  may  freely, 
for  the  purposes  of  commerce,  be  carried  into  the  same,  in  the 
manner  aforesaid,  by  his  Majesty's  subjects,  and  such  goods  and 
merchandize  shall  be  subject  to  no  higher  or  other  duties,  than 
would  be  payable  by  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  on  the  im 
portation  of  the  same  in  American  vessels  into  the  Atlantic  ports  of 
the  said  states.  And  all  goods  not  prohibited  to  be  exported  from 
the  said  territories  respectively,  may  in  like  manner  be  carried  out 
of  the  same  by  the  two  parties  respectively,  paying  duty  as  afore 
said. 

No  duty  of  entry  shall  ever  be  levied  by  either  party  on  peltries 
brought  by  land,  or  inland  navigation  into  the  said  territories 
respectively,  nor  shall  the  Indians  passing  or  repassing  with  their 
own  proper  goods  and  effects  of  whatever  nature,  pay  for  the  same 
any  impost  or  duty  whatever.  But  goods  in  bales,  or  other  large 
packages,  unusual  among  Indians,  shall  not  be  considered  as 
goods  belonging  bona  fide  to  Indians. 

No  higher  or  other  tolls  or  rates  of  ferriage  than  what  are  or 
shall  be  payable  by  natives,  shall  be  demanded  on  either  side; 
and  no  duties  shall  be  payable  on  any  goods  which  shall  merely 
be  carried  over  any  of  the  portages  or  carrying-places  on  either 
side,  for  the  purpose  of  being  immediately  re-imbarked  and  car 
ried  to  some  other  place  or  places.  But  as  by  this  stipulation  it 
is  only  meant  to  secure  to  each  party  a  free  passage  across  the 
portages  on  both  sides :  it  is  agreed,  that  this  exemption  from  duty 
shall  extend  only  to  such  goods  as  are  carried  in  the  usual  and 
direct  road  across  the  portage,  and  are  not  attempted  to  be  in 


248  JAY   TREATY  [November  ia 

any  manner  sold  or  exchanged  during  their  passage  across  the 
same.   .   .  . 

ARTICLE  IV. 

Whereas  it  is  uncertain  whether  the  river  Mississippi  extends 
so  far  to  the  northward,  as  to  be  intersected  by  a  line  to  be  drawn 
due  west  from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  in  the  manner  mentioned 
in  the  treaty  of  peace  between  his  Majesty  and  the  United  States : 
it  is  agreed,  that  measures  shall  be  taken  in  concert  between  his 
Majesty's  government  in  America  and  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  for  making  a  joint  survey  of  the  said  river  from 
one  degree  of  latitude  below  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony,  to  the  principal 
source  or  sources  of  the  said  river,  and  also  of  the  parts  adjacent 
thereto ;  and  that  if  on  the  result  of  such  survey,  it  should  appear 
that  the  said  river,  would  not  be  intersected  by  such  a  line  as  is 
above  mentioned,  the  two  parties  will  thereupon  proceed  by 
amicable  negociation,  to  regulate  the  boundary  line  in  that  quarter, 
as  well  as  all  other  points  to  be  adjusted  between  the  said  parties, 
according  to  justice  and  mutual  convenience,  and  in  conformity  to 
the  intent  of  the  said  treaty. 

ARTICLE  V.1 

Whereas  doubts  have  arisen  what  river  was  truly  intended  under 
the  name  of  the  river  St.  Croix,  mentioned  in  the  said  treaty  of 
peace,  and  forming  a  part  of  the  boundary  therein  described ;  that 
question  shall  be  referred  to  the  final  decision  of  commissioners 
to  be  appointed  in  the  following  manner,  viz.  [Each  party  to 
choose  one  commissioner,  and  these  two  to  choose  a  third.  The 
commissioners  to  "  decide  what  river  is  the  river  St.  Croix,  in 
tended  by  the  treaty,"  and  the  decision  to  be  final.] 

ARTICLE  VI. 

Whereas  it  is  alledged  by  divers  British  merchants  and  others 
his  Majesty's  subjects,  that  debts,  to  a  considerable  amount, 
which  were  bona  fide  contracted  before  the  peace,  still  remain 
owing  to  them  by  citizens  or  inhabitants  of  the  United  States, 

1  See  explanatory  article,  March  15,  1798:  Treaties  and  Conventions  (ed. 
1889),  396,  397.  —  ED. 


1794]  JAY  TREATY  249 

and  that  by  the  operation  of  various  lawful  impediments  since 
the  peace,  not  only  the  full  recovery  of  the  said  debts  has  been 
delayed,  but  also  the  value  and  security  thereof  have  been,  in 
several  instances,  impaired  and  lessened,  so  that  by  the  ordi 
nary  course  of  judicial  proceedings,  the  British  creditors  cannot 
now  obtain,  and  actually  have  and  receive  full  and  adequate 
compensation  for  the  losses  and  damages  which  they  have  thereby 
sustained.  It  is  agreed,  that  in  all  such  cases,  where  full  com 
pensation  for  such  losses  and  damages  cannot,  for  whatever 
reason,  be  actually  obtained,  had  and  received  by  the  said  credi 
tors  in  the  ordinary  course  of  justice,  the  United  States  will 
make  full  and  complete  compensation  for  the  same  to  the  said 
creditors:  But  it  is  distinctly  understood,  that  this  provision  is 
to  extend  to  such  losses  only  as  have  been  occasioned  by  the  law 
ful  impediments  aforesaid,  and  is  not  to  extend  to  losses  occa 
sioned  by  such  insolvency  of  the  debtors,  or  other  causes  as  would 
equally  have  operated  to  produce  such  loss,  if  the  said  impedi 
ments  had  not  existed;  nor  to  such  losses  or  damages  as  have 
been  occasioned  by  the  manifest  delay  or  negligence,  or  wilful 
omission  of  the  claimant. 

[Claims  to  be  adjudicated  by  five  commissioners,  with  powers 
and  duties  as  herein  prescribed.  The  awards  of  the  commission 
ers  to  be  final,  "both  as  to  the  justice  of  the  claim,  and  to  the 
amount  of  the  sum  to  be  paid  to  the  creditor  or  claimant."] 

ARTICLE  VII. 

Whereas  complaints  have  been  made  by  divers  merchants  and 
others,  citizens  of  the  United  States,  that  during  the  course  of 
the  war  in  which  his  Majesty  is  now  engaged,  they  have  sus 
tained  considerable  losses  and  damage,  by  reason  of  irregular  or 
illegal  captures  or  condemnations  of  their  vessels  and  other  prop 
erty,  under  colour  of  authority  or  commissions  from  his  Majesty, 
and  that  from  various  circumstances  belonging  to  the  said  cases, 
adequate  compensation  for  the  losses  and  damages  so  sustained 
cannot  now  be  actually  obtained,  had  and  received  by  the  ordi 
nary  course  of  judicial  proceedings;  it  is  agreed,  that  in  all  such 
cases,  where  adequate  compensation  cannot,  for  whatever  reason, 
be  now  actually  obtained,  had  and  received  by  the  said  merchants 


250  JAY  TREATY  [November  19 

and  others,  in  the  ordinary  course  of  justice,  full  and  complete 
compensation  for  the  same  will  be  made  by  the  British  govern 
ment  to  the  said  complainants.  But  it  is  distinctly  understood, 
that  this  provision  is  not  to  extend  to  such  losses  or  damages  as 
have  been  occasioned  by  the  manifest  delay  or  negligence,  or 
wilful  omission  of  the  claimant. 

[Claims  to  be  adjudicated  by  five  commissioners,  under  like 
conditions  to  those  stated  in  Art.  VI.]  l 

And  whereas  certain  merchants  and  others  his  Majesty's  sub 
jects,  complain,  that  in  the  course  of  the  war  they  have  sustained 
loss  and  damage,  by  reason  of  the  capture  of  their  vessels  and  mer 
chandise,  taken  within  the  limits  and  jurisdiction  of  the  states,  and 
brought  into  the  ports  of  the  same,  or  taken  by  vessels  originally 
armed  in  ports  of  the  said  states. 

It  is  agreed  that  in  all  such  cases  where  restitution  shall  not 
have  been  made  agreeably  to  the  tenor  of  the  letter  from  Mr. 
Jefferson  to  Mr.  Hammond,  dated  at  Philadelphia,  Sept.  5,  1793, 
a  copy  of  which  is  annexed  to  this  treaty;  2  the  complaints  of  the 
parties  shall  be  and  hereby  are  referred  to  the  commissioners  to 
be  appointed  by  virtue  of  this  article,  who  are  hereby  authorized 
and  required  to  proceed  in  the  like  manner  relative  to  these  as 
to  the  other  cases  committed  to  them.  .  .  . 


ARTICLE  X. 

Neither  the  debts  due  from  individuals  of  the  one  nation  to 
individuals  of  the  other,  nor  shares,  nor  monies  which  they  may 
have  in  the  public  funds,  or  in  the  public  or  private  banks,  shall 
ever  in  any  event  of  war  or  national  differences  be  sequestered  or 
confiscated.  .  .  . 

ARTICLE  XI. 

It  is  agreed  between  his  Majesty  and  the  United  States  of 
America,  that  there  shall  be  a  reciprocal  and  entirely  perfect 
liberty  of  navigation  and  commerce  between  their  respective 

1  A  convention  providing  for  payment  of  indemnity  under  Articles  VI.  and 
VII.,  and  debts  under  Article  IV.  of  the  treaty  of  Sept.  3,  1783,  was  concluded 
Jan.  8,  1802.      Treaties  and  Conventions  (ed.  1889),  398,  399.  —  ED. 

2  Treaties  and  Conventions  (ed.  1889),  394>  395-  —  ED. 


1794]  JAY  TREATY  251 

people,  in  the  manner,  under  the  limitations  and  on  the  condi 
tions  specified  in  the  following  articles: 

ARTICLE  XII. 

[Art.  XII.,  relating  to  trade  with  the  West  Indies,  was  sus 
pended  by  the  resolution  of  the  Senate  advising  ratification,  and 
the  suspension  was  agreed  to  by  Great  Britain.] 

ARTICLE  XIII. 

His  Majesty  consents  that  the  vessels  belonging  to  the  citizens 
of  the  United  States  of  America,  shall  be  admitted  and  hospitably 
received,  in  all  the  sea-ports  and  harbours  of  the  British  territories 
in  the  East-Indies.  And  that  the  citizens  of  the  said  United 
States,  may  freely  carry  on  a  trade  between  the  said  territories 
and  the  said  United  States,  in  all  articles  of  which  the  impor 
tation  or  exportation  respectively,  to  or  from  the  said  territories, 
shall  not  be  entirely  prohibited.  Provided  only,  that  it  shall 
not  be  lawful  for  them  in  any  time  of  war  between  the  British 
government  and  any  other  power  or  state  whatever,  to  export 
from  the  said  territories,  without  the  special  permission  of  the 
British  government  there,  any  military  stores,  or  naval  stores,  or 
rice.  The  citizens  of  the  United  States  shall  pay  for  their  ves 
sels  when  admitted  into  the  said  ports  no  other  or  higher  tonnage- 
duty  than  shall  be  payable  on  British  vessels  when  admitted  into 
the  ports  of  the  United  States.  And  they  shall  pay  no  other  or 
higher  duties  or  charges,  on  the  importation  or  exportation  of  the 
cargoes  of  the  said  vessels,  than  shall  be  payable  on  the  same 
articles  when  imported  or  exported  in  British  vessels.  But  it  is 
expressly  agreed,  that  the  vessels  of  the  United  States  shall  not 
carry  any  of  the  articles  exported  by  them  from  the  said  British 
territories,  to  any  port  or  place,  except  to  some  port  or  place  in 
America,  where  the  same  shall  be  unladen,  and  such  regulations 
shall  be  adopted  by  both  parties,  as  shall  from  time  to  time  be 
found  necessary  to  enforce  the  due  and  faithful  observance  of 
this  stipulation.  It  is  also  understood  that  the  permission 
granted  by  this  article,  is  not  to  extend  to  allow  the  vessels  of 
the  United  States  to  carry  on  any  part  of  the  coasting-trade  of 
the  said  British  territories;  but  vessels  going  with  their  original 


252  JAY  TREATY  [November  19 

cargoes,  or  part  thereof,  from  one  port  of  discharge  to  another, 
are  not  to  be  considered  as  carrying  on  the  coasting-trade. 
Neither  is  this  article  to  be  construed  to  allow  the  citizens  of 
the  said  states  to  settle  or  reside  within  the  said  territories,  or  to 
go  into  the  interior  parts  thereof,  without  the  permission  of  the 
British  government  established  there.  .  .  .  And  the  citizens  of 
the  United  States,  whenever  they  arrive  in  any  port  or  harbour  in 
the  said  territories,  or  if  they  should  be  permitted  in  manner 
aforesaid,  to  go  to  any  other  place  therein,  shall  always  be  subject 
to  the  laws,  government,  and  jurisdiction  of  what  nature  estab 
lished  in  such  harbor,  port  or  place,  according  as  the  same  may 
be.  The  citizens  of  the  United  States  may  also  touch  for  refresh 
ment  at  the  island  of  St.  Helena,  but  subject  in  all  respects  to  such 
regulations  as  the  British  government  may  from  time  to  time 
establish  there. 

ARTICLE  XIV. 

There  shall  be  between  all  the  dominions  of  his  Majesty  in 
Europe  and  the  territories  of  the  United  States,  a  reciprocal  and 
perfect  liberty  of  commerce  and  navigation.  The  people  and 
inhabitants  of  the  two  countries  respectively,  shall  have  liberty 
freely  and  securely,  and  without  hindrance  and  molestation,  to 
come  with  their  ships  and  cargoes  to  the  lands,  countries,  cities, 
ports,  places  and  rivers,  within  the  dominions  and  territories 
aforesaid,  to  enter  into  the  same,  to  resort  there,  and  to  remain 
and  reside  there,  without  any  limitation  of  time.  Also  to  hire 
and  possess  houses  and  ware-houses  for  the  purposes  of  their  com 
merce,  and  generally  the  merchants  and  traders  on  each  side, 
shall  enjoy  the  most  complete  protection  and  security  for  their 
commerce;  but  subject  always  as  to  what  respects  this  article  to 
the  laws  and  statutes  of  the  two  countries  respectively. 

ARTICLE  XV. 

It  is  agreed  that  no  other  or  higher  duties  shall  be  paid  by  the 
ships  or  merchandize  of  the  one  party  in  the  ports  of  the  other, 
than  such  as  are  paid  by  the  like  vessels  or  merchandize  of  all 
other  nations.  Nor  shall  any  other  or  higher  duty  be  imposed  in 
one  country  on  the  importation  of  any  articles  the  growth,  prod- 


,794]  JAY  TREATY  253 

uce  or  manufacture  of  the  other,  than  are  or  shall  be  payable 
on  the  importation  of  the  like  articles  being  of  the  growth,  prod 
uce,  or  manufacture  of  any  other  foreign  country.  Nor  shall 
any  prohibition  be  imposed  on  the  exportation  or  importation  of 
any  articles  to  or  from  the  territories  of  the  two  parties  respec 
tively,  which  shall  not  equally  extend  to  all  other  nations. 

But  the  British  government  reserves  to  itself  the  right  of 
imposing  on  American  vessels  entering  into  the  British  ports  in 
Europe,  a  tonnage  duty  equal  to  that  which  shall  be  payable  by 
British  vessels  in  the  ports  of  America:  And  also  such  duty  as 
may  be  adequate  to  countervail  the  difference  of  duty  now  pay 
able  on  the  importation  of  European  and  Asiatic  goods,  when 
imported  into  the  United  States  in  British  or  in  American  vessels. 

The  two  parties  agree  to  treat  for  the  more  exact  equalization 
of  the  duties  on  the  respective  navigation  of  their  subjects  and 
people,  in  such  manner  as  may  be  most  beneficial  to  the  two 
countries.  ...  In  the  interval  it  is  agreed,  that  the  United 
States  will  not  impose  any  new  or  additional  tonnage  duties  on 
British  vessels,  nor  increase  the  now-subsisting  difference  between 
the  duties  payable  on  the  importation  of  any  articles  in  British  or 
in  American  vessels. 

ARTICLE  XVI. 
[Provides  for  the  appointment  of  consuls.] 

ARTICLE  XVII. 

It  is  agreed,  that  in  all  cases  where  vessels  shall  be  captured  or 
detained  on  just  suspicion  of  having  on  board  enemy's  property, 
or  of  carrying  to  the  enemy  any  of  the  articles  which  are  contra 
band  of  war;  the  said  vessel  shall  be  brought  to  the  nearest  or 
most  convenient  port;  and  if  any  property  of  an  enemy  should 
be  found  on  board  such  vessel,  that  part  only  which  belongs  to 
the  enemy  shall  be  made  prize,  and  the  vessel  shall  be  at  liberty 
to  proceed  with  the  remainder  without  any  impediment.  .  .  . 

ARTICLE   XVIII. 

In  order  to  regulate  what  is  in  future  to  be  esteemed  contra 
band  of  war,  it  is  agreed,  that  under  the  said  denomination  shall 


254  JAY  TREATY  [November  ig 

be  comprised  all  arms  and  implements  serving  for  the  purposes  of 
war,  by  land  or  sea,  such  as  cannon,  muskets,  mortars,  petards, 
bombs,  grenades,  carcasses,  saucisses,  carriages  for  cannon,  mus 
ket  rests,  bandoliers,  gun-powder,  match,  saltpetre,  ball,  pikes, 
swords,  head-pieces,  cuirasses,  halberts,  lances,  javelins,  horse- 
furniture,  holsters,  belts,  and  generally  all  other  implements  of 
war;  as  also  timber  for  ship-building,  tar  or  rozin,  copper  in 
sheets,  sails,  hemp,  and  cordage,  and  generally  whatever  may 
serve  directly  to  the  equipment  of  vessels,  unwrought  iron  and 
fir  planks  only  excepted;  and  all  the  above  articles  are  hereby 
declared  to  be  just  objects  of  confiscation,  whenever  they  are 
attempted  to  be  carried  to  an  enemy. 

And  whereas  the  difficulty  of  agreeing  on  the  precise  cases  in 
which  alone  provisions  and  other  articles  not  generally  contra 
band  may  be  regarded  as  such,  renders  it  expedient  to  provide 
against  the  inconveniences  and  misunderstandings  which  might 
thence  arise :  It  is  further  agreed,  that  whenever  any  such  articles 
so  becoming  contraband,  according  to  the  existing  laws  of  nations, 
shall  for  that  reason  be  seized,  the  same  shall  not  be  confiscated, 
but  the  owners  thereof  shall  be  speedily  and  completely  indem 
nified;  and  the  captors,  or  in  their  default,  the  government 
under  whose  authority  they  act,  shall  pay  to  the  masters  or  owners 
of  such  vessels,  the  full  value  of  all  such  articles,  with  a  reason 
able  mercantile  profit  thereon,  together  with  the  freight,  and  also 
the  demurrage  incident  to  such  detention. 

And  whereas  it  frequently  happens  that  vessels  sail  for  a  port 
or  place  belonging  to  an  enemy,  without  knowing  that  the  same 
is  either  besieged,  blockaded  or  invested;  it  is  agreed,  that  every 
vessel  so  circumstanced,  may  be  turned  away  from  such  port  or 
place,  but  she  shall  not  be  detained,  nor  her  cargo,  if  not  contra 
band,  be  confiscated,  unless  after  notice  she  shall  again  attempt 
to  enter;  but  she  shall  be  permitted  to  go  to  any  other  port  or 
place  she  may  think  proper;  Nor  shall  any  vessel  or  goods  of 
either  party,  that  may  have  entered  into  such  port  or  place,  before 
the  same  was  besieged,  blockaded,  or  invested  by  the  other,  and 
be  found  therein  after  the  reduction  or  surrender  of  such  place, 
be  liable  to  confiscation,  but  shall  be  restored  to  the  owners  or 
proprietors  thereof. 


1794]  JAY   TREATY  255 


ARTICLE  XIX. 

And  that  more  abundant  care  may  be  taken  for  the  security  of 
the  respective  subjects  and  citizens  of  the  contracting  parties, 
and  to  prevent  their  suffering  injuries  by  the  men  of  war,  or  pri 
vateers  of  either  party,  all  commanders  of  ships  of  war  and 
privateers,  and  all  others  the  said  subjects  and  citizens,  shall 
forbear  doing  any  damage  to  those  of  the  other  party,  or  commit 
ting  any  outrage  against  them,  and  if  they  act  to  the  contrary,  they 
shall  be  punished,  and  shall  also  be  bound  in  their  persons  and 
estates  to  make  satisfaction  and  reparation  for  all  damages,  and 
the  interest  thereof,  of  whatever  nature  the  said  damages  may 
be.  ... 

******** 

ARTICLE  XXI. 

It  is  likewise  agreed,  that  the  subjects  and  citizens  of  the  two 
nations,  shall  not  do  any  acts  of  hostility  or  violence  against  each 
other,  nor  accept  commissions  or  instructions  so  to  act  from  any 
foreign  prince  or  state,  enemies  to  the  other  party;  nor  shall  the 
enemies  of  one  of  the  parties  be  permitted  to  invite,  or  endeavor 
to  enlist  in  their  military  service,  any  of  the  subjects  or  citizens 
of  the  other  party;  and  the  laws  against  all  such  offences  and 
aggressions  shall  be  punctually  executed.  And  if  any  subject  or 
citizen  of  the  said  parties  respectively,  shall  accept  any  foreign 
commission,  or  letters  of  marque,  for  arming  any  vessel  to  act  as  a 
privateer  against  the  other  party,  and  be  taken  by  the  other  party, 
it  is  hereby  declared  to  be  lawful  for  the  said  party,  to  treat  and 
punish  the  said  subject  or  citizen,  having  such  commission  or 
letters  of  marque,  as  a  pirate. 

ARTICLE  XXII. 

It  is  expressly  stipulated,  that  neither  of  the  said  contracting 
parties  will  order  or  authorize  any  acts  of  reprisal  against  the 
other,  on  complaints  of  injuries  or  damages,  until  the  said  party 
shall  first  have  presented  to  the  other  a  statement  thereof,  veri 
fied  by  competent  proof  and  evidence,  and  demanded  justice  and 


256  JAY   TREATY  [November  19 

satisfaction,  and  the  same  shall  either  have  been  refused  or  un 
reasonably  delayed. 

ARTICLE  XXIII. 

The  ships  of  war  of  each  of  the  contracting  parties  shall,  at  all 
times,  be  hospitably  received  in  the  ports  of  the  other,  their 
officers  and  crews  paying  due  respect  to  the  laws  and  govern 
ment  of  the  country.  .  .  .  And  his  Majesty  consents,  that  in 
case  an  American  vessel  should,  by  stress  of  weather,  danger 
from  enemies  or  other  misfortune,  be  reduced  to  the  necessity  of 
seeking  shelter  in  any  of  his  Majesty's  ports,  into  which  such 
vessel  could  not  in  ordinary  cases  claim  to  be  admitted,  she  shall, 
on  manifesting  that  necessity  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  govern 
ment  of  the  place,  be  hospitably  received  and  be  permitted  to 
refit,  and  to  purchase  at  the  market  price,  such  necessaries  as  she 
may  stand  in  need  of,  conformably  to  such  orders  and  regulations 
as  the  government  of  the  place,  having  respect  to  the  circum 
stances  of  each  case,  shall  prescribe.  She  shall  not  be  allowed  to 
break  bulk  or  unload  her  cargo,  unless  the  same  should  be  bona 
fide  necessary  to  her  being  refitted.  Nor  shall  be  permitted  to 
sell  any  part  of  her  cargo,  unless  so  much  only  as  may  be  neces 
sary  to  defray  her  expences,  and  then  not  without  the  express 
permission  of  the  government  of  the  place.  Nor  shall  she  be 
obliged  to  pay  any  duties  whatever,  except  only  on  such  articles 
as  she  may  be  permitted  to  sell  for  the  purpose  aforesaid. 

ARTICLE  XXIV. 

It  shall  not  be  lawful  for  any  foreign  privateers  (not  being  sub 
jects  or  citizens  of  either  of  the  said  parties)  who  have  commis 
sions  from  any  other  prince  or  state  in  enmity  with  either  nation, 
to  arm  their  ships  in  the  ports  of  either  of  the  said  parties,  nor  to 
sell  what  they  have  taken,  nor  in  any  other  manner  to  exchange  the 
same ;  nor  shall  they  be  allowed  to  purchase  more  provisions,  than 
shall  be  necessary  for  their  going  to  the  nearest  port  of  that  prince 
or  state  from  whom  they  obtained  their  commissions. 

ARTICLE  XXV. 

It  shall  be  lawful  for  the  ships  of  war  and  privateers  belonging 
to  the  said  parties  respectively,  to  carry  whithersoever  they  please, 


1794]  JAY  TREATY  257 

the  ships  and  goods  taken  from  their  enemies,  without  being 
obliged  to  pay  any  fee  to  the  officers  of  the  admiralty,  or  to  any 
judges  whatever;  nor  shall  the  said  prizes  when  they  arrive  at, 
and  enter  the  ports  of  the  said  parties,  be  detained  or  seized, 
neither  shall  the  searchers  or  other  officers  of  those  places  visit 
such  prizes,  (except  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  the  carrying  of 
any  part  of  the  cargo  thereof  on  shore  in  any  manner  contrary  to 
the  established  laws  of  revenue,  navigation  or  commerce)  nor 
shall  such  officers  take  cognizance  of  the  validity  of  such  prizes; 
but  they  shall  be  at  liberty  to  hoist  sail,  and  depart  as  speedily  as 
may  be,  and  carry  their  said  prizes  to  the  place  mentioned  in 
their  commissions  or  patents,  which  the  commanders  of  the  said 
ships  of  war  or  privateers  shall  be  obliged  to  show.  No  shelter 
or  refuge  shall  be  given  in  their  ports  to  such  as  have  made  a 
prize  upon  the  subjects  or  citizens  of  either  of  the  said  parties; 
but  if  forced  by  stress  of  weather,  or  the  dangers  of  the  sea,  to 
enter  therein,  particular  care  shall  be  taken  to  hasten  their  de 
parture,  and  to  cause  them  to  retire  as  soon  as  possible.  Noth 
ing  in  this  treaty  contained  shall,  however,  be  construed  or 
operate  contrary  to  former  and  existing  public  treaties  with  other 
sovereigns  or  states.  But  the  two  parties  agree,  that  while  they 
continue  in  amity,  neither  of  them  will  in  future  make  any  treaty 
that  shall  be  inconsistent  with  this  or  the  preceding  article. 

Neither  of  the  said  parties  shall  permit  the  ships  or  goods 
belonging  to  the  subjects  or  citizens  of  the  other,  to  be  taken 
within  cannon-shot  of  the  coast,  nor  in  any  of  the  bays,  ports, 
or  rivers  of  their  territories,  by  ships  of  war,  or  others  having 
commission  from  any  prince,  republic,  or  state  whatever.  .  .  . 

ARTICLE  XXVI. 

If  at  any  time  a  rupture  should  take  place,  (which  God  forbid) 
between  his  Majesty  and  the  United  States,  the  merchants  and 
others  of  each  of  the  two  nations,  residing  in  the  dominions  of 
the  other,  shall  have  the  privilege  of  remaining  and  continuing 
their  trade,  so  long  as  they  behave  peaceably,  and  commit  no 
offence  against  the  laws;  and  in  case  their  conduct  should  render 
them  suspected,  and  the  respective  governments  should  think 
proper  to  order  them  to  remove,  the  term  of  twelve  months  from 
s 


258  ALIEN   AND    SEDITION   ACTS  [1798 

the  publication  of  the  order  shall  be  allowed  them  for  that  pur 
pose,  to  remove  with  their  families,  effects  and  property ;  but  this 
favour  shall  not  be  extended  to  those  who  shall  act  contrary  to  the 
established  laws;  .  .  .  such  rupture  shall  not  be  deemed  to 
exist,  while  negociations  for  accommodating  differences  shall  be 
depending,  nor  until  the  respective  ambassadors  or  ministers,  if 
such  there  shall  be,  shall  be  recalled,  or  sent  home  on  account 
of  such  differences.  .  .  . 

ARTICLE   XXVII. 

[Provides  for  the  extradition  of  persons  charged  with  murder 
or  forgery.] 

ARTICLE   XXVIII. 

It  is  agreed,  that  the  first  ten  articles  of  this  treaty  shall  be 
permanent,  and  that  the  subsequent  articles,  except  the  twelfth, 
shall  be  limited  in  their  duration  to  twelve  years,  to  be  computed 
from  the  day  on  which  the  ratifications  of  this  treaty  shall  be 
exchanged.  .  .  .* 


Alien    and    Sedition    Acts 
1798 

THE  papers  relating  to  the  mission  to  France,  communicated  to  Congress 
April  3,  1798,  were  printed  by  order  of  the  Senate  April  9.  The  publication 
of  the  dispatches  "solidified  opposition  to  France,  and  gave  both  houses  to 
Federalist  control.  Leading  republican  journalists  were  chiefly  foreigners, 
and  one  of  the  first  objects  of  the  Federalists  was  to  muzzle  these  aliens" 
(Johnston).  The  result  of  these  efforts  was  the  passage  of  the  four  acts 
following,  known  collectively  as  the  alien  and  sedition  acts. 

REFERENCES.  —  For  the  texts  of  the  acts,  and  their  legislative  history,  see 
under  each  act,  following.  For  the  proceedings  in  Congress,  see  House  and 
Senate  Journals,  5th  Cong.  2d  Sess.;  for  the  debates,  see  the  Annals,  5th 
Cong.,  or  Benton's  Abridgment,  II.  The  adverse  report  of  a  committee  of 
the  House,  Feb.  21,  1799,  on  petitions  for  the  repeal  of  the  laws,  is  in  Amer. 
State  Papers,  Miscellaneous,  I.,  181-184. 


Signed:    "Grenville,  John  Jay."  —  ED. 


1798]  NATURALIZATION   ACT  259 

No.  58.     Naturalization  Act 

June  18,   1798 

APRIL  19,  1798,  Coit  of  Connecticut  introduced  in  the  House  a  resolution 
for  the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  consider  the  expediency  of  suspending 
or  amending  the  existing  law  regarding  naturalization.  With  the  addition  of 
a  clause  calling  upon  the  committee  "to  consider  and  report  upon  the  expedi 
ency  of  establishing  by  law  regulations  respecting  aliens  arriving  or  residing 
within  the  United  States,"  the  resolution  was  adopted.  May  3  the  committee 
reported  three  resolutions,  the  first  of  which  favored  a  longer  term  of  residence 
for  aliens  before  naturalization.  The  first  two  resolutions  were  agreed  to  by 
the  House,  and  referred  to  a  committee,  which  on  May  1 5  brought  in  a  bill  to 
amend  the  naturalization  law.  •  The  bill  was  taken  up  on  the  2ist,  discussed 
at  length,  and  on  the  22d  passed,  after  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  incorporate 
a  provision  suspending  for  a  limited  time  the  operation  of  the  act.  In  the 
Senate  the  bill  was  referred  to  a  committee  of  three,  which  reported  an  amended 
bill  June  8.  The  bill  as  reported  was  agreed  to  on  the  nth,  and  on  the  i2th, 
after  further  amendments,  passed  by  a  vote  of  13  to  8.  June  13  the  House 
agreed  to  the  Senate  amendments;  on  the  i8th  the  act  was  approved. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  I.,  566-569.  The  act  was 
repealed  by  the  act  of  April  14,  1802  (Stat.  at  Large,  II.,  153-155). 

An  Act  supplementary  to  and  to  amend  the  act,  intituled  " An  act 
to  establish  an  uniform  rule  of  naturalization;  and  to  repeal 
the  act  heretofore  passed  on  that  subject. 

SECTION  i.  Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  no  alien  shall  be  ad 
mitted  to  become  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  or  of  any  state, 
unless  in  the  manner  prescribed  by  the  act,  intituled  "An  act  to 
establish  an  uniform  rule  of  naturalization ;  and  to  repeal  the  act 
heretofore  passed  on  that  subject,"  *  he  shall  have  declared  his 
intention  to  become  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  five  years,  at 
least,  before  his  admission,  and  shall,  at  the  time  of  his  applica 
tion  to  be  admitted,  declare  and  prove,  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
court  having  jurisdiction  in  the  case,  that  he  has  resided  within 
the  United  States  fourteen  years,  at  least,  and  within  the  state  or 
territory  where,  or  for  which  such  court  is  at  the  time  held,  five 
years,  at  least,  besides  conforming  to  the  other  declarations,  re 
nunciations  and  proofs,  by  the  said  act  required,  any  thing  therein 
to  the  contrary  hereof  notwithstanding :  Provided,  that  any  alien, 

1  Act  of  Jan.  29,  1795  (Stat.  at  Large,  I.,  414,  415),  repealing  act  of  March 
26,  1790  (Stat.  at  Large,  I.,  103,  104).  —  ED. 


260  NATURALIZATION   ACT  [June  18 

who  was  residing  within  the  limits,  and  under  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  United  States,  before  .  .  .  [January  29,  1795,]  .  .  .  may, 
within  one  year  after  the  passing  of  this  act  —  and  any  alien  who 
shall  have  made  the  declaration  of  his  intention  to  become  a  citi 
zen  of  the  United  States,  in  conformity  to  the  provisions  of  the 
act  [of  Jan.  29,  1795],  may,  within  four  years  after  having  made 
the  declaration  aforesaid,  be  admitted  to  become  a  citizen,  in  the 
manner  prescribed  by  the  said  act,  upon  his  making  proof  that  he 
has  resided  five  years,  at  least,  within  the  limits,  and  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  United  States:  And  provided  also,  that  no  alien, 
who  shall  be  a  native,  citizen,  denizen  or  subject  cf  any  nation  or 
state  with  whom  the  United  States  shall  be  at  war,  at  the  time  of 
his  application,  shall  be  then  admitted  to  become  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States. 

******** 

SEC.  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  all  white  persons,  aliens, 
(accredited  foreign  ministers,  consuls,  or  agents,  their  families  and 
domestics,  excepted)  who,  after  the  passing  of  this  act,  shall  con 
tinue  to  reside,  or  who  shall  arrive,  or  come  to  reside  in  any  port 
or  place  within  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  shall  be  reported, 
if  free,  and  of  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  by  themselves,  or 
being  under  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  or  holden  in  service, 
by  their  parent,  guardian,  master  or  mistress  in  whose  care  they 
shall  be,  to  the  clerk  of  the  district  court  of  the  district,  if  living 
within  ten  miles  of  the  port  or  place,  in  which  their  residence  or 
arrival  shall  be,  and  otherwise,  to  the  collector  of  such  port  or 
place,  or  some  officer  or  other  person  there,  or  nearest  thereto, 
who  shall  be  authorized  by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  to 
register  aliens:  And  report,  as  aforesaid,  shall  be  made  in  all 
cases  of  residence,  within  six  months  from  and  after  the  passing 
of  this  act,  and  in  all  after  cases,  within  forty-eight  hours  after  the 
first  arrival  or  coming  into  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  and 
shall  ascertain  the  sex,  place  of  birth,  age,  nation,  place  of  alle 
giance  or  citizenship,  condition  or  occupation,  and  place  of  actual 
or  intended  residence  within  the  United  States,  of  the  alien  or 
aliens  reported,  and  by  whom  the  report  is  made.  .  .  .  And  the 
clerk  of  each  district  court  shall,  during  one  year  from  the  passing 
of  this  act,  make  monthly  returns  to  the  department  of  State,  of 
all  aliens  registered  and  returned,  as  aforesaid,  in  his  office. 


1798]  ALIEN  ACT  261 

SEC.  5.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  every  alien  who  shall 
continue  to  reside,  or  who  shall  arrive,  as  aforesaid,  of  whom  a 
report  is  required  as  aforesaid,  who  shall  refuse  or  neglect  to 
make  such  report,  and  to  receive  a  certificate  thereof,  shall  forfeit 
and  pay  the  sum  of  two  dollars;  and  any  justice  of  the  peace,  or 
other  civil  magistrate,  who  has  authority  to  require  surety  of  the 
peace,  shall  and  may,  on  complaint  to  him  made  thereof,  cause 
such  alien  to  be  brought  before  him,  there  to  give  surety  of  the 
peace  and  good  behaviour  during  his  residence  within  the  United 
States,  or  for  such  term  as  the  justice  or  other  magistrate  shall 
deem  reasonable,  and  until  a  report  and  registry  of  such  alien 
shall  be  made,  and  a  certificate  thereof,  received  as  aforesaid; 
and  in  failure  of  such  surety,  such  alien  shall  and  may  be  com 
mitted  to  the  common  gaol,  and  shall  be  there  held,  until  the 
order  which  the  justice  or  magistrate  shall  and  may  reasonably 
make,  in  the  premises,  shall  be  performed.  And  every  person, 
whether  alien,  or  other,  having  the  care  of  any  alien  or  aliens, 
under  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  or  of  any  white  alien  holden 
in  service,  who  shall  refuse  and  neglect  to  make  report  thereof,  as 
aforesaid,  shall  forfeit  the  sum  of  two  dollars,  for  each  and  every 
such  minor  or  servant,  monthly,  and  every  month,  until  a  report 
and  registry,  and  a  certificate  thereof,  shall  be  had,  as  aforesaid. 
******** 


No.  59.     Alien  Act 


June  25,  1798 

APRIL  25,  1798,  Senator  Hillhouse  of  Connecticut  introduced  a  resolution 
for  the  appointment  of  a  committee  "to  consider  whether  any,  and  what  pro 
visions  ought  to  be  made  by  law,  for  removing  from  the  territory  of  the 
United  States,  such  aliens  born,  not  entitled  by  the  Constitution  and  laws 
thereof  to  the  rights  of  citizenship,  as  may  be  dangerous  to  its  peace  and 
safety;  and  providing  for  returns  to  be  made  of  all  aliens  that  shall  be  landed 
from  any  vessel  which  shall  arrive  in  any  of  the  ports  of  the  United  States; 
and  that  permits  be  granted  to  such  as  shall  be  suffered  to  reside  therein ;  and 
to  report  by  bill  or  otherwise."  The  next  day  the  resolution,  with  the  word 
"born"  stricken  out,  was  adopted.  May  4  the  committee  reported  a  bill, 
which  was  read  a  second  time  May  8,  and  debated  until  June  i,  when  it  was 
recommitted.  An  amended  bill  was  reported  June  4,  and  passed,  with  further 


262  ALIEN   ACT  [June  25 

amendments,  June  8,  by  a  vote  of  16  to  7.  The  bill  was  taken  up  in  the 
House  June  18,  and  passed  with  amendments  on  the  2ist,  by  a  vote  of  46  to 
40.  On  the  22d  the  Senate  concurred  in  the  House  amendments;  on  the 
25th  the  act  was  approved. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  L,  570-572. 

An  Act  concerning  Aliens. 

SECTION  i.  Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the 
President  of  the  United  States  at  any  time  during  the  continuance 
of  this  act,  to  order  all  such  aliens  as  he  shall  judge  dangerous 
to  the  peace  and  safety  of  the  United  States,  or  shall  have  reason 
able  grounds  to  suspect  are  concerned  in  any  treasonable  or  secret 
machinations  against  the  government  thereof,  to  depart  out  of 
the  territory  of  the  United  States,  within  such  time  as  shall  be 
expressed  in  such  order,  which  order  shall  be  served  on  such 
alien  by  delivering  him  a  copy  thereof,  or  leaving  the  same  at  his 
usual  abode,  and  returned  to  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State, 
by  the  marshal  or  other  person  to  whom  the  same  shall  be  directed. 
And  in  case  any  alien,  so  ordered  to  depart,  shall  be  found  at  large 
within  the  United  States  after  the  time  limited  in  such  order  for 
his  departure,  and  not  having  obtained  a  license  from  the  President 
to  reside  therein,  or  having  obtained  such  license  shall  not  have 
conformed  thereto,  every  such  alien  shall,  on  conviction  thereof, 
be  imprisoned  for  a  term  not  exceeding  three  years,  and  shall 
never  after  be  admitted  to  become  a  citizen  of  the  United  States. 
Provided  always,  and  be  it  further  enacted,  that  if  any  alien  so 
ordered  to  depart  shall  prove  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  President, 
by  evidence  to  be  taken  before  such  person  or  persons  as  the 
President  shall  direct,  who  are  for  that  purpose  hereby  authorized 
to  administer  oaths,  that  no  injury  or  danger  to  the  United  States 
will  arise  from  suffering  such  alien  to  reside  therein,  the  President 
may  grant  a  license  to  such  alien  to  remain  within  the  United 
States  for  such  time  as  he  shall  judge  proper,  and  at  such  place 
as  he  may  designate.  And  the  President  may  also  require  of  such 
alien  to  enter  into  a  bond  to  the  United  States,  in  such  penal  sum 
as  he  may  direct,  with  one  or  more  sufficient  sureties  to  the  satis 
faction  of  the  person  authorized  by  the  President  to  take  the  same, 
conditioned  for  the  good  behavior  of  such  alien  during  his  residence 
in  the  United  States,  and  not  violating  his  license,  which  license 
the  President  may  revoke,  whenever  he  shall  think  proper. 


1798]  ALIEN   ENEMIES   ACT  263 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  whenever  he  may  deem  it  neces 
sary  for  the  public  safety,  to  order  to  be  removed  out  of  the  terri 
tory  thereof,  any  alien  who  may  or  shall  be  in  prison  in  pursuance 
of  this  act;  and  to  cause  to  be  arrested  and  sent  out  of  the  United 
States  such  of  those  aliens  as  shall  have  been  ordered  to  depart 
therefrom  and  shall  not  have  obtained  a  license  as  aforesaid,  in 
all  cases  where,  in  the  opinion  of  the  President,  the  public  safety 
requires  a  speedy  removal.  And  if  any  alien  so  removed  or  sent 
out  of  the  United  States  by  the  President  shall  voluntarily  return 
thereto,  unless  by  permission  of  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
such  alien  on  conviction  thereof,  shall  be  imprisoned  so  long  as, 
in  the  opinion  of  the  President,  the  public  safety  may  require. 

SEC.  3.    [Masters  of  vessels  to  report  aliens  brought  in,  &c.]. 
******** 

SEC.  5.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  it  shall  be  lawful  for 
any  alien  who  may  be  ordered  to  be  removed  from  the  United 
States,  by  virtue  of  this  act,  to  take  writh  him  such  part  of  his 
goods,  chattels,  or  other  property,  as  he  may  find  convenient; 
and  all  property  left  in  the  United  States  by  any  alien,  who  may 
be  removed,  as  aforesaid,  shall  be,  and  remain  subject  to  his  order 
and  disposal,  in  the  same  manner  as  if  this  act  had  not  been 
passed. 

SEC.  6.  And  be  it  further  enacted.  That  this  act  shall  continue 
and  be  in  force  for  and  during  the  term  of  two  years  from  the 
passing  thereof.1 


No.  60.    Alien  Enemies  Act 

July  6,   1798 

A  "bill  respecting  alien  enemies"  was  introduced  in  the  House  May  18, 
1798,  considered  in  Committee  of  the  Whole  House  on  the  22d,  and  the  next 
day,  by  a  vote  of  46  to  44,  recommitted.  The  committee  reported  an  amended 
bill  June  8;  on  the  same  day  the  "act  concerning  aliens"  was  received  from 
the  Senate,  and  both  bills  were  made  the  order  of  the  day  for  June  n.  The 
alien  enemies  bill  was  not  reached  until  the  25th;  the  next  day  it  passed  the 
House.  On  the  27th  the  Senate  referred  the  bill  to  the  committee  having  also 

1  The  act  was  not  renewed.  —  ED. 


264  ALIEN   ENEMIES   ACT  [July  6 

in  charge  the  sedition  bill;  this  committee  reported  an  amended  bill  July  2, 
which  passed  the  Senate  on  the  3d.  On  the  same  day  the  House  agreed  to 
the  Senate  amendments,  and  on  the  6th  the  act  was  approved. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  I.,  577,  578.  Compare 
Revised  Statutes  (ed.  1878),  sees.  4067-4070.  The  text  of  the  bill  introduced 
May  18  is  in  the  Annals,  5th  Cong.,  under  date  of  May  22. 

An  Act  respecting  Alien  Enemies. 

SECTION  i.  Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  whenever  there  shall  be 
a  declared  war  between  the  United  States  and  any  foreign  nation 
or  government,  or  any  invasion  or  predatory  incursion  shall  be 
perpetrated,  attempted,  or  threatened  against  the  territory  of 
the  United  States,  by  any  foreign  nation  or  government,  and  the 
President  of  the  United  States  shall  make  public  proclamation 
of  the  event,  all  natives,  citizens,  denizens,  or  subjects  of  the 
hostile  nation  or  government,  being  males  of  the  age  of  fourteen 
years  and  upwards,  who  shall  be  within  the  United  States,  and  not 
actually  naturalized,  shall  be  liable  to  be  apprehended,  restrained, 
secured  and  removed,  as  alien  enemies.  And  the  President  of 
the  United  States  shall  be,  and  he  is  hereby  authorized,  in  any 
event,  as  aforesaid,  by  his  proclamation  thereof,  or  other  public 
act,  to  direct  the  conduct  to  be  observed,  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States,  towards  the  aliens  who  shall  become  liable,  as  aforesaid; 
the  manner  and  degree  of  the  restraint  to  which  they  shall  be 
subject,  and  in  what  cases,  and  upon  what  security  their  residence 
shall  be  permitted,  and  to  provide  for  the  removal  of  those,  who, 
not  being  permitted  to  reside  within  the  United  States,  shall  refuse 
or  neglect  to  depart  therefrom ;  and  to  establish  any  other  regula 
tions  which  shall  be  found  necessary  in  the  premises  and  for  the 
public  safety:  Provided,  that  aliens  resident  within  the  United 
States,  who  shall  become  liable  as  enemies,  in  the  manner  afore 
said,  and  who  shall  not  be  chargeable  with  actual  hostility,  or 
other  crime  against  the  public  safety,  shall  be  allowed,  for  the 
recovery,  disposal,  and  removal  of  their  goods  and  effects,  and  for 
their  departure,  the  full  time  which  is,  or  shall  be  stipulated  by 
any  treaty,  where  any  shall  have  been  between  the  United  States, 
and  the  hostile  nation  or  government,  of  which  they  shall  be 
natives,  citizens,  denizens  or  subjects:  and  when  no  such  treaty 
shall  have  existed,  the  President  of  the  United  States  may  ascertain 
and  declare  such  reasonable  time  as  may  be  consistent  with  the 


1798]  SEDITION  ACT  265 

public  safety,  and  according  to  the  dictates  of  humanity  and 
national  hospitality. 

[Sections  2  and  3  relate  to  the  duties  of  courts  and  marshals 
in  connection  with  this  act.] 


No.  6 1.    Sedition  Act 

July  14,   1798 

JUNE  23,  1798,  Senator  Lloyd  of  Maryland  gave  notice  of  his  intention  to 
ask  for  leave  to  bring  in  a  bill  "to  define  more  particularly  the  crime  of  trea 
son,  and  to  define  and  punish  the  crime  of  sedition."  When  the  matter  came 
up  on  the  26th,  a  motion  was  made  to  refer  the  request  to  a  committee;  the 
motion  was  lost,  the  vote  being  4  to  17,  and  by  a  vote  of  14  to  8  leave  was 
given  to  introduce  the  bill.  The  next  day  the  bill,  by  a  vote  of  15  to  6,  was 
referred  to  a  committee.  Amendments  to  the  bill  were  reported  by  the  com 
mittee  July  2,  agreed  to  on  the  3d,  and  the  bill,  by  a  vote  of  18  to  5,  ordered 
to  a  third  reading.  On  the  4th  the  bill  passed,  the  vote  being  18  to  6.  In 
the  House  the  following  day  a  motion  to  reject  the  bill  \vas  defeated,  36  to  47. 
July  6  an  attempt  to  refer  the  bill  to  a  select  committee  also  failed,  and  a  set 
of  resolutions  for  the  punishment  of  seditious  writers,  submitted  by  Harper  of 
South  Carolina,  was  referred  to  the  Committee  of  the  Whole  House.  The 
sedition  bill  was  considered  July  9;  all  except  the  first  section  of  the  Senate 
bill  was  stricken  out  and  new  sections  inserted;  on  the  loth  the  amended 
bill,  by  vote  of  44  to  41,  passed  the  House.  On  the  i2th  the  Senate  con 
curred  in  the  House  amendments;  on  the  i4th  the  act  was  approved. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  I.,  596,  597.  An  abstract  of 
the  Senate  bill  is  in  the  Annals,  5th  Cong.,  II.,  2093.  Harper's  resolutions 
are  in  the  House  Journal,  also  in  the  Annals.  For  prosecutions  under  the 
sedition  act,  see  Wharton's  State  Trials,  333,  659,  684,  688. 

An  Act  in  addition  to  the  act,  entitled  "An  Act  for  the  punishment 
of  certain  crimes  against  the  United  States" 

SECTION  i.  Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  if  any  persons  shall 
unlawfully  combine  or  conspire  together,  with  intent  to  oppose 
any  measure  or  measures  of  the  government  of  the  United  States, 
which  are  or  ghall  be  directed  by  proper  authority,  or  to  impede 
the  operation  of  any  law  of  the  United  States,  or  to  intimidate 
or  prevent  any  person  holding  a  place  or  office  in  or  under  the 
government  of  the  United  States,  from  undertaking,  performing 
or  executing  his  trust  or  duty;  and  if  any  person  or  persons, 


266  SEDITION   ACT  [July  14 

with  intent  as  aforesaid,  shall  counsel,  advise  or  attempt  to  procure 
any  insurrection,  riot,  unlawful  assembly,  or  combination,  whether 
such  conspiracy,  threatening,  counsel,  advice,  or  attempt  shall 
have  the  proposed  effect  or  not,  he  or  they  shall  be  deemed  guilty 
of  a  high  misdemeanor,  and  on  conviction,  before  any  court  of 
the  United  States  having  jurisdiction  thereof,  shall  be  punished 
by  a  fine  not  exceeding  five  thousand  dollars,  and  by  imprisonment 
during  a  term  not  less  than  six  months  nor  exceeding  five  years; 
and  further,  at  the  discretion  of  the  court  may  be  holden  to  find 
sureties  for  his  good  behaviour  in  such  sum,  and  for  such  time, 
as  the  said  court  may  direct. 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  if  any  person  shall 
write,  print,  utter  or  publish,  or  shall  cause  or  procure  to  be 
written,  printed,  uttered  or  published,  or  shall  knowingly  and 
willingly  assist  or  aid  in  writing,  printing,  uttering  or  publishing 
any  false,  scandalous  and  malicious  writing  or  writings  against  the 
government  of  the  United  States,  or  either  house  of  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States,  or  the  President  of  the  United  States,  with 
intent  to  defame  the  said  government,  or  either  house  of  the  said 
Congress,  or  the  said  President,  or  to  bring  them,  or  either  of 
them,  into  contempt  or  disrepute;  or  to  excite  against  them,  or 
either  or  any  of  them,  the  hatred  of  the  good  people  of  the  United 
States,  or  to  stir  up  sedition  within  the  United  States,  or  to  excite 
any  unlawful  combinations  therein,  for  opposing  or  resisting  any 
law  of  the  United  States,  or  any  act  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  done  in  pursuance  of  any  such  law,  or  of  the  powers  in 
him  vested  by  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  or  to  resist, 
oppose,  or  defeat  any  such  law  or  act,  or  to  aid,  encourage  or 
abet  any  hostile  designs  of  any  foreign  nation  against  the  United 
States,  their  people  or  government,  then  such  person,  being 
thereof  convicted  before  any  court  of  the  United  States  having 
jurisdiction  thereof,  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  not  exceeding 
two  thousand  dollars,  and  by  imprisonment  not  exceeding  two 
years. 

SEC.  3.  And  be  it  further  enacted  and  declared,  That  if  any 
person  shall  be  prosecuted  under  this  act,  for  the  writing  or  pub 
lishing  any  libel  aforesaid,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  defendant, 
upon  the  trial  of  the  cause,  to  give  in  evidence  in  his  defence,  the 
truth  of  the  matter  contained  in  the  publication  charged  as  a  libel. 


1798]          KENTUCKY  AND    VIRGINIA   RESOLUTIONS  267 

And  the  jury  who  shall  try  the  cause,  shall  have  a  right  to  deter 
mine  the  law  and  the  fact,  under  the  direction  of  the  court,  as  in 
other  cases. 

SEC.  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  this  act  shall  continue 
and  be  in  force  until  .  .  .  [March  3,  1801]  .  .  .  ,  and  no  longer : 1 
Provided,  that  the  expiration  of  the  act  shall  not  prevent  or  defeat 
a  prosecution  and  punishment  of  any  offence  against  the  law, 
during  the  time  it  shall  be  in  force. 


Kentucky  and  Virginia  Resolutions 

1798,  1799 

THE  Virginia  resolutions  of  1 798  and  the  Kentucky  resolutions  of  1 798 
and  1799  were  outcomes  of  the  discussion  over  the  alien  and  sedition  laws. 
The  legislature  of  Kentucky  met  Nov.  7,  1798,  and  on  the  following  day 
John  Breckinridge  introduced  in  the  House  a  set  of  lesolutions,  the  original 
draft  of  which  had  been  prepared  by  Jefferson.  The  resolutions,  with 
amendments,  were  adopted  by  the  House  on  the  loth;  on  the  i3th  the 
Senate  concurred,  and  on  the  i6th  the  resolutions  received  the  approval  of 
the  governor.  A  set  of  resolutions  prepared  by  Madison,  then  a  member 
of  the  Virginia  legislature,  was  presented  in  that  body  Dec.  13,  1798,  by 
John  Taylor.  The  resolutions  were  debated  until  the  aist,  when,  by  a  vote 
of  100  to  63,  they  were  adopted;  on  the  24th  they  passed  the  Senate,  the 
vote  being  14  to  3,  and  were  approved  by  the  governor.  Copies  of  each 
set  of  resolutions  were  transmitted  to  the  governors  of  the  various  States  to 
be  laid  before  the  legislatures.  Replies  were  made  by  the  legislatures  of 
New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  New 
York,  and  Delaware,  and  i~i  each  case  were  "decidedly  unfavorable."  In 
1799  Kentucky  reaffirmed  its  adherence  to  the  doctrine  of  the  resolutions 
of  1798,  and  added  another  resolution.  In  Virginia  the  replies  of  the  State 
legislatures  were  referred  to  a  committee,  of  which  Madison  was  chairman, 
which  made  an  elaborate  report  Jan.  7,  1800. 

REFERENCES.  —  For  the  texts,  see  under  each  set  of  resolutions,  follow 
ing.  The  answers  of  the  State  legislatures  are  in  Elliot's  Debates  (ed.  1836), 
IV.,  558-565,  where  are  also  Madison's  report  of  1800,  and  extracts  from 
an  "address  to  the  people"  accompanying  the  Virginia  resolutions.  Madi 
son's  report  is  also  in  his  Writings  (ed.  1865),  IV.,  515-555;  see  also  vari 
ous  letters  of  Madison,  ib.  II.,  151-156;  IV.,  95-111.  Warfield's  Kentucky 
Resolutions  of  1798  is  of  special  importance;  cf.  review  in  Nation,  XLV., 
528,  529,  and  correspondence  in  ib.,  XLIV.,  382-384,  467,  468. 

1  The  act  was  not  renewed.  —  ED. 


268  KENTUCKY   RESOLUTIONS  [November  16 


No.  62.     Kentucky  Resolutions 

November  16,  1798 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Shaler's  Kentucky,  409-416,  certified  as  a  true 
copy  of  the  original  in  the  Massachusetts  archives.     The  formal  endorse 
ments  at  the  end  are  omitted.     Jefferson's  draft  is  in  his  Works  (ed.  1856), 
IX.,  464-471. 
******** 

I.  Resolved,  that  the  several  States  composing  the  United  States 
of  America,  are  not  united  on  the  principle  of  unlimited  submis 
sion  to  their  general  government;   but  that  by  compact  under  the 
style  and  title  of  a  Constitution  for  the  United  States  and  of  amend 
ments  thereto,  they  constituted  a  general  government  for  special 
purposes,  delegated  to  that  government  certain  definite  powers, 
reserving  each  State  to  itself,  the  residuary  mass  of  right  to  their 
own  self-government;    and  that  whensoever  the  general  govern 
ment  assumes  undelegated  powers,  its  acts  are  unauthoritative, 
void,  and  of  no  force:    That  to  this  compact  each  State  acceded 
as  a  State,  and  is  an  integral  party,  its  co-States  forming,  as  to 
itself,  the  other  party :   That  the  government  created  by  this  com 
pact  was  not  made  the  exclusive  or  final  judge  of  the  extent  of 
the  powers  delegated  to  itself;    since  that  would  have  made  its 
discretion,  and  not  the  Constitution,  the  measure  of  its  powers; 
but  that  as  in  all  other  cases  of  compact  among  parties  having  no 
common  Judge,  each  party  has  an  equal  right  to  judge  for  itself, 
as  well  of  infractions  as  of  the  mode  and  measure  of  redress. 

II.  Resolved,  that  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  having 
delegated  to  Congress  a  power  to  punish  treason,  counterfeiting 
the  securities  and  current  coin  of  the  United  States,  piracies  and 
felonies  committed  on  the  high  seas,  and  offenses  against  the  laws 
of  nations,  and  no  other  crimes  whatever,  and  it  being  true  as  a 
general  principle,  and  one  of  the  amendments  to  the  Constitution 
having  also  declared  "that  the  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United 
States  by  the  Constitution,  nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States,  are 
reserved  to  the  States  respectively,  or  to  the  people,"  therefore 
also  .  .  .  [the  Sedition  Act  of  July  14,  1798]  .  .  .   ;   as  also  the 
act  passed  by  them  on  the  2yth  day  of  June,  1798,  entitled  "An 
act  to  punish  frauds  committed  on  the  Bank  of  the  United  States" 


1798]  KENTUCKY   RESOLUTIONS  269 

(and  all  other  their  acts  which  assume  to  create,  define,  or  punish 
crimes  other  than  those  enumerated  in  the  Constitution),  are 
altogether  void  and  of  no  force,  and  that  the  power  to  create, 
define,  and  punish  such  other  crimes  is  reserved,  and  of  right 
appertains  solely  and  exclusively  to  the  respective  States,  each 
within  its  own  Territory. 

III.  Resolved,  that  it  is  true  as  a  general  principle,  and  is  also 
expressly  declared  by  one  of  the  amendments  to  the  Constitution 
that  "the  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States  by  the  Con 
stitution,  nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved  to  the 
States  respectively  or  to  the  people;"  and  that  no  power  over 
the  freedom  of  religion,  freedom  of  speech,  or  freedom  of  the 
press  being  delegated  to  the  United  States  by  the  Constitution, 
nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States,  all  lawful  powers  respecting  the 
same  did  of  right  remain,  and  were  reserved  to  the  States,  or  to 
the  people:  That  thus  was  manifested  their  determination  to 
retain  to  themselves  the  right  of  judging  how  far  the  licentious 
ness  of  speech  and  of  the  press  may  be  abridged  without  lessening 
their  useful  freedom,  and  how  far  those  abuses  which  cannot  be 
separated  from  their  use  should  be  tolerated  rather  than  the  use 
be  destroyed ;  and  thus  also  they  guarded  against  all  abridgment 
by  the  United  States  of  the  freedom  of  religious  opinions  and 
exercises,  and  retained  to  themselves  the  right  of  protecting  the 
same,  as  this  State,  by  a  law  passed  on  the  general  demand  of  its 
citizens,  had  already  protected  them  from  all  human  restraint  or 
interference:  And  that  in  addition  to  this  general  principle  and 
express  declaration,  another  and  more  special  provision  has  been 
made  by  one  of  the  amendments  to  the  Constitution  which 
expressly  declares,  that  "Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting 
an  establishment  of  religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise 
thereof,  or  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech,  or  of  the  press," 
thereby  guarding  in  the  same  sentence,  and  under  the  same 
words,  the  freedom  of  religion,  of  speech,  and  of  the  press,  inso 
much,  that  whatever  violates  either,  throws  down  the  sanctuary 
which  covers  the  others,  and  that  libels,  falsehoods,  defamation 
equally  with  heresy  and  false  religion,  are  withheld  from  the  cog 
nizance  of  Federal  tribunals.  That  therefore  .  .  .  [the  Sedition 
Act]  .  .  .  ,  which  does  abridge  the  freedom  of  the  press,  is  not 
law,  but  is  altogether  void  and  of  no  effect. 


270  KENTUCKY   RESOLUTIONS  [November  1 6 

IV.  Resolved,  that  alien  friends  are  under  the  jurisdiction  and 
protection  of  the  laws  of  the  State  wherein  they  are;    that  no 
power  over  them  has  been  delegated  to  the  United  States,  nor 
prohibited  to  the  individual  States  distinct  from  their  power  over 
citizens;    and  it  being  true  as  a  general  principle,  and  one  of  the 
amendments  to  the  Constitution  having  also  declared  that  "the 
powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States  by  the  Constitution, 
nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved  to  the  States  re 
spectively,  or  to  the  people,"  the    .  .  .  [Alien  Act  of  June  22,  1798] 
.  .  .  ,  which  assumes  power  over  alien  friends  not  delegated  by 
the  Constitution,  is  not  law,  but  is  altogether  void  and  of  no  force. 

V.  Resolved,  that  in  addition  to  the  general  principle  as  well 
as  the  express  declaration,  that  powers  not  delegated  are  reserved, 
another  and  more  special  provision  inserted  in  the  Constitution 
from  abundant  caution  has  declared,  "that  the  migration  or  im 
portation  of  such  persons  as  any  of  the  States  now  existing  shall 
think  proper  to  admit,  shall  not  be  prohibited  by  the  Congress 
prior  to  the  year  1808."     That  this  Commonwealth  does  admit 
the  migration  of  alien  friends  described  as  the  subject  of  the  said 
act  concerning  aliens;    that  a  provision  against  prohibiting  their 
migration  is  a  provision  against  all  acts  equivalent  thereto,  or  it 
would  be  nugatory;  that  to  remove  them  when  migrated  is  equiva 
lent  to  a  prohibition  of  their  migration,  and  is  therefore  contrary 
to  the  said  provision  of  the  Constitution,  and  void. 

VI.  Resolved,  that  the  imprisonment  of  a  person  under  the  pro 
tection  of  the  laws  of  this  Commonwealth  on  his  failure  to  obey 
the  simple  order  of  the  President  to  depart  out  of  the  United 
States,  as  is  undertaken  by  the  said  act  entitled  "An  act  concern 
ing  aliens,"  is  contrary  to  the  Constitution,  one  amendment  to 
which  has  provided,  that  "no  person  shall  be  deprived  of  liberty 
without  due  process  of  law,"  and  that  another  having  provided 
"that  in  all  criminal  prosecutions,  the  accused  shall  enjoy  the 
right  to  a  public  trial  by  an  impartial  jury,  to  be  informed  of  the 
nature  and  cause  of  the  accusation,  to  be  confronted  with  the  wit 
nesses  against  him,   to  have  compulsory  process  for  obtaining 
witnesses  in  his  favour,  and  to  have  the  assistance  of  counsel  for 
his  defense,"  the  same  act  undertaking  to  authorize  the  President 
to  remove  a  person  out  of  the  United  States  who  is  under  the 
protection  of  the  law,  on  his  own  suspicion,  without  accusation, 


1798]  KENTUCKY   RESOLUTIONS  271 

without  jury,  without  public  trial,  without  confrontation  of  the 
witnesses  against  him,  without  having  witnesses  in  his  favour, 
without  defense,  without  counsel,  is  contrary  to  these  provisions 
also  of  the  Constitution,  is  therefore  not  law,  but  utterly  void  and 
of  no  force.  That  transferring  the  power  of  judging  any  person 
who  is  under  the  protection  of  the  laws,  from  the  courts  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  as  is  undertaken  by  the  same  act 
concerning  aliens,  is  against  the  article  of  the  Constitution  which 
provides,  that  "the  judicial  powrer  of  the  United  States  shall  be 
vested  in  courts,  the  judges  of  which  shall  hold  their  offices  during 
good  behavior,"  and  that  the  said  act  is  void  for  that  reason  also; 
and  it  is  further  to  be  noted,  that  this  transfer  of  judiciary  power 
is  to  that  magistrate  of  the  general  government  who  already  pos 
sesses  all  the  executive,  and  a  qualified  negative  in  all  the  legis 
lative  powers. 

VII.  Resolved,   that  the  construction  applied  by  the  general 
government  (as  is  evinced  by  sundry  of  their  proceedings)   to 
those  parts  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  which  dele 
gate  to  Congress  a  power  to  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts, 
and  excises;    to  pay  the  debts,   and  provide  for  the   common 
defense,  and  general  welfare  of  the  United  States,  and  to  make 
all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for  carrying  into  exe 
cution  the  powers  vested  by  the  Constitution  in  the  government 
of  the  United   States,   or  any  department  thereof,   goes   to   the 
destruction  of  all  the  limits  prescribed  to  their  power  by  the  Con 
stitution  :  That  words  meant  by  that  instrument  to  be  subsiduary 
only  to  the  execution  of  the  limited  powers  ought  not  to  be  so 
construed  as  themselves  to  give  unlimited  powers,  nor  a  part  so 
to  be  taken  as  to  destroy  the  whole  residue  of  the  instrument: 
That  the  proceedings  of  the  general  government  under  color  of 
these  articles  will  be  a  fit  and  necessary  subject  for  revisal  and 
correction  at  a  time  of  greater  tranquillity,  while  those  specified 
in  the  preceding  resolutions  call  for  immediate  redress. 

VIII.  Resolved,  that  the  preceding  Resolutions  be  transmitted 
to  the  Senators  and  Representatives  in  Congress  from  this  Com 
monwealth,  who  are  hereby  enjoined  to  present  the  same  to  their 
respective  Houses,  and  to  use  their  best  endeavors  to  procure,  at 
the  next  session  of  Congress,  a  repeal  of  the  aforesaid  unconstitu 
tional  and  obnoxious  acts. 


272  KENTUCKY  RESOLUTIONS  [November  16 

IX.  Resolved,  lastly,  that  the  Governor  of  this  Commonwealth 
be,  and  is  hereby  authorized  and  requested  to  communicate  the 
preceding  Resolutions  to  the  Legislatures  of  the  several  States,  to 
assure  them  that  this  Commonwealth  considers  Union  for  specified 
National  purposes,  and  particularly  for  those  specified  in  their 
late  Federal  Compact,  to  be  friendly  to  the  peace,  happiness,  and 
prosperity  of  all  the  States :  that  faithful  to  that  compact  accord 
ing  to  the  plain  intent  and  meaning  in  which  it  was  understood 
and  acceded  to  by  the  several  parties,  it  is  sincerely  anxious  for 
its  preservation:  that  it  does  also  believe,  that  to  take  from  the 
States  all  the  powers  of  self-government,  and  transfer  them  to  a 
general  and  consolidated  government,  without  regard  to  the 
special  delegations  and  reservations  solemnly  agreed  to  in  that 
compact,  is  not  for  the  peace,  happiness,  or  prosperity  of  these 
States:  And  that,  therefore,  this  Commonwealth  is  determined, 
as  it  doubts  not  its  co-States  are,  tamely  to  submit  to  undelegated 
and  consequently  unlimited  powers  in  no  man  or  body  of  men  on 
earth :  that  if  the  acts  before  specified  should  stand,  these  conclu 
sions  would  flow  from  them;  that  the  general  government  may 
place  any  act  they  think  proper  on  the  list  of  crimes  and  punish  it 
themselves,  whether  enumerated  or  not  enumerated  by  the  Con 
stitution  as  cognizable  by  them:  that  they  may  transfer  its  cog 
nizance  to  the  President  or  any  other  person,  who  may  himself  be 
the  accuser,  counsel,  judge,  and  jury,  whose  suspicions  may  be 
the  evidence,  his  order  the  sentence,  his  officer  the  executioner, 
and  his  breast  the  sole  record  of  the  transaction:  that  a  very 
numerous  and  valuable  description  of  the  inhabitants  of  these 
States  being  by  this  precedent  reduced  as  outlaws  to  the  absolute 
dominion  of  one  man,  and  the  barrier  of  the  Constitution  thus 
swept  away  from  us  all,  no  rampart  now  remains  against  the  pas 
sions  and  the  powers  of  a  majority  of  Congress,  to  protect  from  a 
like  exportation  or  other  more  grievous  punishment  the  minority 
of  the  same  body,  the  legislatures,  judges,  governors,  and  coun 
selors  of  the  States,  nor  their  other  peaceable  inhabitants  who  may 
venture  to  reclaim  the  constitutional  rights  and  liberties  of  the 
State  and  people,  or  who  for  other  causes,  good  or  bad,  may  be 
obnoxious  to  the  views  or  marked  by  the  suspicions  of  the  Presi 
dent,  or  be  thought  dangerous  to  his  or  their  elections  or  other 
interests,  public  or  personal :  that  the  friendless  alien  has  indeed 


1798]  KENTUCKY   RESOLUTIONS  273 

been  selected  as  the  safest  subject  of  a  first  experiment,  but  the 
citizen  will  soon  follow,  or  rather  has  already  followed:  for, 
already  has  a  sedition  act  marked  him  as  its  prey:  that  these 
and  successive  acts  of  the  same  character,  unless  arrested  on  the 
threshold,  may  tend  to  drive  these  States  into  revolution  and 
blood,  and  will  furnish  new  calumnies  against  Republican  govern 
ments,  and  new  pretexts  for  those  who  wish  it  to  be  believed,  that 
man  cannot  be  governed  but  by  a  rod  of  iron :  that  it  would  be  a 
dangerous  delusion  were  a  confidence  in  the  men  of  our  choice  to 
silence  our  fears  for  the  safety  of  our  rights:  that  confidence  is 
everywhere  the  parent  of  despotism:  free  government  is  founded 
in  jealousy  and  not  in  confidence;  it  is  jealousy  and  not  confi 
dence  which  prescribes  limited  Constitutions  to  bind  down  those 
whom  we  are  obliged  to  trust  with  power:  that  our  Constitution 
has  accordingly  fixed  the  limits  to  which  and  no  further  our  con 
fidence  may  go;  and  let  the  honest  advocate  of  confidence  read 
the  alien  and  sedition  acts,  and  say  if  the  Constitution  has  not 
been  wise  in  fixing  limits  to  the  government  it  created,  and 
whether  we  should  be  wise  in  destroying  those  limits;  let  him  say 
what  the  government  is  if  it  be  not  a  tyranny,  which  the  men  of 
our  choice  have  conferred  on  the  President,  and  the  President  of 
our  choice  has  assented  to  and  accepted  over  the  friendly  stran 
gers,  to  whom  the  mild  spirit  of  our  country  and  its  laws  had 
pledged  hospitality  and  protection:  that  the  men  of  our  choice 
have  more  respected  the  bare  suspicions  of  the  President  than  the 
solid  rights  of  innocence,  the  claims  of  justification,  the  sacred 
force  of  truth,  and  the  forms  and  substance  of  law  and  justice. 
In  questions  of  power  then  let  no  more  be  heard  of  confidence  in 
man,  but  bind  him  down  from  mischief  by  the  claims  of  the  Con 
stitution.  That  this  Commonwealth  does  therefore  call  on  its 
co-States  for  an  expression  of  their  sentiments  on  the  acts  con 
cerning  aliens,  and  for  the  punishment  of  certain  crimes  herein 
before  specified,  plainly  declaring  whether  these  acts  are  or  are 
not  authorized  by  the  Federal  Compact.  And  it  doubts  not  that 
their  sense  will  be  so  announced  as  to  prove  their  attachment 
unaltered  to  limited  government,  whether  general  or  particular 
and  that  the  rights  and  liberties  of  their  co-States  will  be  exposed 
to  no  dangers  by  remaining  embarked  on  a  common  bottom  with 
their  own:  That  they  wrill  concur  with  this  Commonwealth  iu 


274  VIRGINIA   RESOLUTIONS  [December  24 

considering  the  said  acts  so  palpably  against  the  Constitution  as 
to  amount  to  an  undisguised  declaration,  that  the  compact  is  not 
meant  to  be  the  measure  of  the  powers  of  the  general  government, 
but  that  it  will  proceed  in  the  exercise  over  these  States  of  all 
powers  whatsoever:  That  they  will  view  this  as  seizing  the  rights 
of  the  States  and  consolidating  them  in  the  hands  of  the  general 
government  with  a  power  assumed  to  bind  the  States  (not  merely 
in  cases  made  Federal)  but  in  all  cases  whatsoever,  by  laws  made, 
not  with  their  consent,  but  by  others  against  their  consent :  That 
this  would  be  to  surrender  the  form  of  government  we  have  chosen, 
and  to  live  under  one  deriving  its  powers  from  its  own  will,  and 
not  from  our  authority;  and  that  the  co-States,  recurring  to  their 
natural  right  in  cases  not  made  Federal,  will  concur  in  declaring 
these  acts  void  and  of  no  force,  and  will  each  unite  with  this 
Commonwealth  in  requesting  their  repeal  at  the  next  session  of 
Congress. 


No.  63.     Virginia  Resolutions 

December  24,  1798 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Madison's  Writings  (ed.  1865),  IV.,  506,  507, 
certified  as  a  true  copy  of  the  original  on  file  in  the  Virginia  archives. 

Resolved,  That  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia  doth  unequivo 
cally  express  a  firm  resolution  to  maintain  and  defend  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States,  and  the  Constitution  of  this  State, 
against  every  aggression  either  foreign  or  domestic;  and  that 
they  will  support  the  Government  of  the  United  States  in  all 
measures  warranted  by  the  former. 

That  this  Assembly  most  solemnly  declares  a  warm  attachment 
to  the  Union  of  the  States,  to  maintain  which  it  pledges  all  its 
powers;  and  that,  for  this  end,  it  is  their  duty  to  watch  over  and 
oppose  every  infraction  of  those  principles  which  constitute  the 
only  basis  of  that  Union,  because  a  faithful  observance  of  them 
can  alone  secure  its  existence  and  the  public  happiness. 

That  this  Assembly  doth  explicitly  and  peremptorily  declare 
that  it  views  the  powers  of  the  Federal  Government  as  resulting 
from  the  compact  to  which  the  States  are  parties,  as  limited  by 


1798]  VIRGINIA   RESOLUTIONS  275 

the  plain  sense  and  intention  of  the  instrument  constituting  that 
compact;  as  no  further  valid  than  they  are  authorized  by  the 
grants  enumerated  in  that  compact;  and  that,  in  case  of  a  deliber 
ate,  palpable,  and  dangerous  exercise  of  other  powers  not  granted 
by  the  said  compact,  the  States,  who  are  parties  thereto,  have  the 
right  and  are  in  duty  bound  to  interpose  for  arresting  the  progress 
of  the  evil,  and  for  maintaining  within  their  respective  limits  the 
authorities,  rights,  and  liberties  appertaining  to  them. 

That  the  General  Assembly  doth  also  express  its  deep  regret, 
that  a  spirit  has  in  sundry  instances  been  manifested  by  the 
Federal  Government  to  enlarge  its  powers  by  forced  construc 
tions  of  the  constitutional  charter  which  defines  them;  and  that 
indications  have  appeared  of  a  design  to  expound  certain  gen 
eral  phrases  (which,  having  been  copied  from  the  very  limited 
grant  of  powers  in  the  former  Articles  of  Confederation,  were  the 
less  liable  to  be  misconstrued)  so  as  to  destroy  the  meaning  and 
effect  of  the  particular  enumeration  which  necessarily  explains 
and  limits  the  general  phrases;  and  so  as  to  consolidate  the 
States,  by  degrees,  into  one  sovereignty,  the  obvious  tendency 
and  inevitable  consequence  of  which  would  be  to  transform  the 
present  republican  system  of  the  United  States  into  an  absolute, 
or,  at  best,  a  mixed  monarchy. 

That  the  General  Assembly  doth  particularly  protest  against 
the  palpable  and  alarming  infractions  of  the  Constitution  in  the 
two  late  cases  of  the  " Alien  and  Sedition  Acts,"  passed  at  the 
last  session  of  Congress;  the  first  of  which  exercises  a  power 
nowhere  delegated  to  the  Federal  Government,  and  which,  by 
uniting  legislative  and  judicial  powers  to  those  of  [the]  executive, 
subvert  the  general  principles  of  free  government,  as  well  as  the 
particular  organization  and  positive  provisions  of  the  Federal  Con 
stitution:  and  the  other  of  which  acts  exercises,  in  like  manner, 
a  power  not  delegated  by  the  Constitution,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
expressly  and  positively  forbidden  by  one  of  the  amendments 
thereto,  —  a  power  which,  more  than  any  other,  ought  to  produce 
universal  alarm,  because  it  is  levelled  against  the  right  of  freely 
examining  public  characters  and  measures,  and  of  free  communi 
cation  among  the  people  thereon,  which  has  ever  been  justly 
deemed  the  only  effectual  guardian  of  every  other  right. 

That  this  State  having  by  its  Convention  which  ratified  the 


276  KENTUCKY   RESOLUTIONS  [November  22 

Federal  Constitution  expressly  declared  that,  among  other  essen 
tial  rights,  "the  liberty  of  conscience  and  of  the  press  cannot  be 
cancelled,  abridged,  restrained  or  modified  by  any  authority  of 
the  United  States,"  and  from  its  extreme  anxiety  to  guard  these 
rights  from  every  possible  attack  of  sophistry  or  ambition,  having, 
with  other  States,  recommended  an  amendment  for  that  purpose, 
which  amendment  was  in  due  time  annexed  to  the  Constitution, 
—  it  would  mark  a  reproachful  inconsistency  and  criminal  degen 
eracy,  if  an  indifference  were  now  shown  to  the  palpable  violation 
of  one  of  the  rights  thus  declared  and  secured,  and  to  the  estab 
lishment  of  a  precedent  which  may  be  fatal  to  the  other. 

That  the  good  people  of  this  Commonwealth,  having  ever  felt 
and  continuing  to  feel  the  most  sincere  affection  for  their  brethren 
of  the  other  States,  the  truest  anxiety  for  establishing  and  per 
petuating  the  union  of  all  and  the  most  scrupulous  fidelity  to  that 
Constitution,  which  is  the  pledge  of  mutual  friendship,  and  the  in 
strument  of  mutual  happiness,  the  General  Assembly  doth  solemnly 
appeal  to  the  like  dispositions  of  the  other  States,  in  confidence 
that  they  will  concur  with  this  Commonwealth  in  declaring,  as  it 
does  hereby  declare,  that  the  acts  aforesaid  are  unconstitutional; 
and  that  the  necessary  and  proper  measures  will  be  taken  by  each 
for  co-operating  with  this  State,  in  maintaining  unimpaired  the 
authorities,  rights,  and  liberties  reserved  to  the  States  respectively, 
or  to  the  people. 

******** 


No.  64.     Kentucky  Resolutions 

November  22,  1799 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Elliot's  Debates  (ed.  1836),  IV.,  570-572.  Cor 
rections  of  a  number  of  obvious  typographical  errors  are  enclosed  in  square 
brackets.  The  formal  endorsements  at  the  end  are  omitted. 


The  representatives  of  the  good  people  of  this  Commonwealth, 
in  General  Assembly  convened,  having  maturely  considered  the 
answers  of  sundry  States  in  the  Union,  to  their  resolutions  passed 


1799]  KENTUCKY  RESOLUTIONS  277 

the  last  session,  respecting  certain  unconstitutional  laws  of  Con 
gress,  commonly  called  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws,  would  be 
faithless,  indeed,  to  themselves  and  to  those  they  represent,  were 
they  silently  to  acquiesce  in  the  principles  and  doctrines  attempted 
to  be  maintained  in  all  those  answers,  that  of  Virginia  onlyexcepted. 
To  again  enter  the  field  of  argument,  and  attempt  more  fully 
or  forcibly  to  expose  the  unconstitutionality  of  those  obnoxious 
laws,  would,  it  is  apprehended,  be  as  unnecessary  as  unavailing. 
We  cannot,  however,  but  lament,  that,  in  the  discussion  of  those 
interesting  subjects,  by  sundry  of  the  Legislatures  of  our  sister 
States,  unfounded  suggestions,  and  uncandid  insinuations,  deroga 
tory  to  the  true  character  and  principles  of  this  Commonwealth 
has  been  substituted  in  place  of  fair  reasoning  and  sound  argu 
ment.  Our  opinions  of  these  alarming  measures  of  the  General 
Government,  together  with  our  reasons  for  those  opinions,  were 
detailed  with  decency,  and  with  temper,  and  submitted  to  the  dis 
cussion  and  judgment  of  our  fellow-citizens  throughout  the  Union. 
Whether  the  like  decency  and  temper  have  been  observed  in  the 
answers  of  most  of  those  States,  who  have  denied  or  attempted 
to  obviate  the  great  truths  contained  in  those  resolutions,  we  have 
now  only  to  submit  to  a  candid  world.  Faithful  to  the  true  prin 
ciples  of  the  federal  Union,  unconscious  of  any  designs  to  disturb 
the  harmony  of  that  Union,  and  anxious  only  to  escape  the  fangs 
of  despotism,  the  good  people  of  this  Commonwealth  are  regard 
less  cf  censure  or  calumniation.  Least  [Lest],  however,  the  silence 
of  this  Commonwealth  should  be  construed  into  an  acquiescence 
in  the  doctrines  and  principles  advanced  and  attempted  to  be 
maintained  by  the  said  answers,  or  at  least  those  of  our  fellow- 
citizens  throughout  the  Union  who  so  widely  differ  from  us  on 
those  important  subjects,  should  be  deluded  by  the  expectation, 
that  we  shall  be  deterred  from  what  we  conceive  our  duty,  or  shrink 
from  the  principles  contained  in  those  resolutions  —  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  this  Commonwealth  considers  the  Federal  Union, 
upon  the  terms  and  for  the  purposes  specified  in  the  late  compact, 
conducive  to  the  liberty  and  happiness  of  the  several  States :  That 
it  does  now  unequivocally  declare  its  attachment  to  the  Union, 
and  to  that  compact,  agreeably  to  its  obvious  and  real  intention, 
and  will  be  among  the  last  to  seek  its  dissolution :  That  if  those 
who  administer  the  General  Government  be  permitted  to  trans- 


278  KENTUCKY   RESOLUTIONS  [November  22 

gress  the  limits  fixed  by  that  compact,  by  a  total  disregard  to  the 
special  delegations  of  power  therein  contained,  an  annihilation  of 
the  State  Governments,  and  the  creation  upon  their  ruins  of  a 
General  Consolidated  Government,  will  be  the  inevitable  conse 
quence:  That  the  principle  and  construction  contended  for  by 
sundry  of  the  state  legislatures,  that  the  General  Government  is 
the  exclusive  judge  of  the  extent  of  the  powers  delegated  to  it, 
stop  nothing  [short]  of  despotism  —  since  the  discretion  of  those 
who  administer  the  government,  and  not  the  Constitution,  would 
be  the  measure  of  their  powers:  That  the  several  states  who 
formed  that  instrument  being  sovereign  and  independent,  have 
the  unquestionable  right  to  judge  of  the  infraction;  and,  That  a 
Nullification  by  those  sovereignties,  of  all  unauthorized  acts  done 
under  color  of  that  instrument  is  the  rightful  remedy:  That  this 
Commonwealth  does,  under  the  most  deliberate  reconsideration, 
declare,  that  the  said  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws  are,  in  their  opinion, 
palpable  violations  of  the  said  Constitution;  and,  howrever  cheer 
fully  it  may  be  disposed  to  surrender  its  opinion  to  a  majority 
of  its  sister  states,  in  matters  of  ordinary  or  doubtful  policy,  yet, 
in  no  [omit]  momentous  regulations  like  the  present,  which  so 
vitally  wound  the  best  rights  of  the  citizen,  it  would  consider  a 
silent  acquiescence  as  highly  criminal:  That  although  this  com 
monwealth,  as  a  party  to  the  federal  compact,  will  bow  to  the 
laws  of  the  Union,  yet,  it  does,  at  the  same  [time]  declare,  that  it 
will  not  now,  or  ever  hereafter,  cease  to  oppose  in  a  constitutional 
manner,  every  attempt  at  what  quarter  soever  offered,  to  violate 
that  compact.  And,  finally,  in  order  that  no  pretext  or  arguments 
may  be  drawn  from  a  supposed  acquiescence,  on  the  part  of  this 
Commonwealth  in  the  constitutionality  of  those  laws,  and  be 
thereby  used  as  precedents  for  similar  future  violations  of  the 
Federal  compact  —  this  Commonwealth  does  now  enter  against 
them  its  solemn  PROTEST. 


1 799 J  LOUISIANA  PURCHASE  279 

No.  65.     Treaty  with  France  for  the  Cession 
of  Louisiana 

April  30,  1803 

THE  region  known  as  Louisiana  belonged  to  France  until  1762,  when  it  was 
ceded  to  Spain.  By  the  treaty  of  Paris  in  1763,  a  portion  of  Louisiana  east  of 
the  Mississippi  was  ceded  to  Great  Britain,  and  in  1783  the  eastern  bank  of 
the  Mississippi  as  far  south  as  the  3ist  parallel  passed  into  the  control  of  the 
United  States.  By  the  third  article  of  the  secret  treaty  of  San  Ildefonso,  Oct. 
i,  1800,  Spain  agreed  to  cede  Louisiana  to  France.  October  16,  1802,  the 
Spanish  intendant  of  Louisiana  by  proclamation  forbade  citizens  of  the  United 
States  the  further  use  of  New  Orleans  "as  a  place  of  deposit  for  merchandise, 
and  free  transit  for  our  ships  down  the  river  to  the  sea."  An  appropriation  of 
$2,000,000  was  made  by  Congress  for  the  purchase  of  New  Orleans.  January 
n,  1803,  Jefferson  nominated  Monroe  as  minister  extraordinary  to  co-operate 
with  Livingston,  the  minister  to  France,  in  negotiations  for  "a  treaty  or  con 
vention  with  the  First  Consul  of  France,  for  the  purpose  of  enlarging,  and 
more  effectually  securing,  our  rights  and  interests  in  the  river  Mississippi,  and 
in  the  territories  eastward  thereof."  The  outcome  of  the  negotiations  was  the 
purchase  of  Louisiana  by  the  United  States.  A  treaty  and  two  conventions, 
dated  April  30,  1803,  were  signed  early  in  May.  A  special  session  of  Con 
gress  was  called  for  Oct.  17;  on  the  2oth  the  Senate,  by  a  vote  of  24  to  7, 
ratified  the  treaty.  The  House  declared  in  favor  of  the  treaty  on  the  25th, 
by  a  vote  of  90  to  25. 

REFERENCES.  —  English  and  French  text  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  VIII., 
200-206.  The  message  of  Jan.  n,  1803,  is  in  Amer.  State  Papers,  Foreign 
Relations,  II.,  475;  for  the  two  conventions  and  diplomatic  correspondence, 
ib.,  II.,  508-583,  or  Annals,  7th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  1007-1210.  The  discus 
sions  in  the  House  may  be  followed  in  the  Annals,  or  in  Benton's  Abridgment, 
II.  The  best  account  of  events  is  in  Henry  Adams's  United  States,  I.,  chaps. 
13-17,  II.,  chaps.  1-6.  See  also  Jefferson's  Works  (ed.  1854),  IV.,  431-434, 
456-459,  498-501,  and  further  correspondence  in  V.,  VII.,  and  VIII. 

******** 

ARTICLE  I.  Whereas,  by  the  article  the  third  of  the  treaty 
concluded  at  St.  Idelfonso,  the  gth  Vendemiaire,  an.  9  (ist 
October,  1800)  between  the  First  Consul  of  the  French  Republic 
and  his  Catholic  Majesty,  it  was  agreed  as  follows:  "His 
Catholic  Majesty  promises  and  engages  on  his  part,  to  cede  to 
the  French  Republic,  six  months  after  the  full  and  entire  execu 
tion  of  the  conditions  and  stipulations  herein  relative  to  his 
royal  highness  the  duke  of  Parma,  the  colony  or  province  of 
Louisiana,  with  the  same  extent  that  it  now  has  in  the  hands  of 


280  LOUISIANA  PURCHASE  [April  30 

Spain,  and  that  it  had  when  France  possessed  it;  and  such  as 
it  should  be  after  the  treaties  subsequently  entered  into  between 
Spain  and  other  states."  And  whereas,  in  pursuance  of  the 
treaty,  and  particularly  of  the  third  article,  the  French  Re 
public  has  an  incontestible  title  to  the  domain  and  to  the  posses 
sion  of  the  said  territory:  The  First  Consul  of  the  French 
Republic  desiring  to  give  to  the  United  States  a  strong  proof  of 
his  friendship,  doth  hereby  cede  to  the  said  United  States,  in  the 
name  of  the  French  Republic,  forever  and  in  full  sovereignty,  the 
said  territory  with  all  its  rights  and  appurtenances,  as  fully  and 
in  the  same  manner  as  they  have  been  acquired  by  the  French 
Republic,  in  virtue  of  the  above-mentioned  treaty,  concluded  with 
his  Catholic  Majesty. 

ART.  II.  In  the  cession  made  by  the  preceding  article  are 
included  the  adjacent  islands  belonging  to  Louisiana,  all  public 
lots  and  squares,  vacant  lands,  and  all  public  buildings,  fortifi 
cations,  barracks,  and  other  edifices  which  are  not  private  prop 
erty.  —  The  archives,  papers,  and  documents,  relative  to  the 
domain  and  sovereignty  of  Louisiana,  and  its  dependencies,  will 
be  left  in  the  possession  of  the  commissaries  of  the  United  States, 
and  copies  will  be  afterwards  given  in  due  form  to  the  magis 
trates  and  municipal  officers,  of  such  of  the  said  papers  and 
documents  as  may  be  necessary  to  them. 

ART.  III.  The  inhabitants  of  the  ceded  territory  shall  be  in 
corporated  in  the  Union  of  the  United  States,  and  admitted  as 
soon  as  possible,  according  to  the  principles  of  the  Federal  con 
stitution,  to  the  enjoyment  of  all  the  rights,  advantages  and  im 
munities  of  citizens  of  the  United  States;  and  in  the  mean  time 
they  shall  be  maintained  and  protected  in  the  free  enjoyment  of 
their  liberty,  property,  and  the  religion  which  they  profess. 
******** 

ART.  V.  Immediately  after  the  ratification  of  the  present 
•treaty  by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  in  case  that 
of  the  First  Consul  shall  have  been  previously  obtained,  the 
commissary  of  the  French  Republic  shall  remit  all  the  military 
posts  of  New  Orleans,  and  other  parts  of  the  ceded  territory,  to 
the  commissary  or  commissaries  named  by  the  President  to  take 
possession;  the  troops,  whether  of  France  or  Spain,  who  may  be 
there,  shall  cease  to  occupy  any  military  post  from  the  time  of 


1803]  LOUISIANA  PURCHASE  281 

taking  possession,  and  shall  be  embarked  as  soon  as  possible, 
in  the  course  of  three  months  after  the  ratification  of  this 
treaty. 

ART.  VI.  The  United  States  promise  to  execute  such  treaties 
and  articles  as  may  have  been  agreed  between  Spain  and  the  tribes 
and  nations  of  Indians,  until,  by  mutual  consent  of  the  United 
States  and  the  said  tribes  or  nations,  other  suitable  articles  shall 
have  been  agreed  upon. 

ART.  VII.  As  it  is  reciprocally  advantageous  to  the  commerce 
of  France  and  the  United  States  to  encourage  the  communication 
of  both  nations  for  a  limited  time  in  the  country  ceded  by  the 
present  treaty,  until  general  arrangements  relative  to  the  com 
merce  of  both  nations  may  be  agreed  on ;  it  has  been  agreed  be 
tween  the  contracting  parties,  that  the  French  ships  coming 
directly  from  France  or  any  of  her  colonies,  loaded  only  with  the 
produce  and  manufactures  of  France  or  her  said  colonies ;  and  the 
ships  of  Spain  coming  directly  from  Spain  or  any  of  her  colonies, 
loaded  only  with  the  produce  or  manufactures  of  Spain  or  her 
colonies,  shall  be  admitted  during  the  space  of  twelve  years  in  the 
ports  of  New  Orleans,  and  in  all  other  legal  ports  of  entry  within 
the  ceded  territory,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  ships  of  the  United 
States  coming  directly  from  France  or  Spain,  or  any  of  their 
colonies,  without  being  subject  to  any  other  or  greater  duty  on 
merchandize,  or  other  or  greater  tonnage  than  that  paid  by  the 
citizens  of  the  United  States. 

During  the  space  of  time  above  mentioned,  no  other  nation 
shall  have  a  right  to  the  same  privileges  in  the  ports  of  the  ceded 
territory:  .  .  .  it  is  however  well  understood  that  the  object  of  the 
above  article  is  to  favor  the  manufactures,  commerce,  freight  and 
navigation  of  France  and  of  Spain,  so  far  as  relates  to  the  importa 
tions  that  the  French  and  Spanish  shall  make  into  the  said  ports  of 
the  United  States,  without  in  any  sort  affecting  the  regulations  that 
the  United  States  may  make  concerning  the  exportation  of  the 
produce  and  merchandize  of  the  United  States,  or  any  right  they 
may  have  to  make  such  regulations. 

ART.  VIII.  In  future  and  forever  after  the  expiration  of  the 
twelve  years,  the  ships  of  France  shall  be  treated  upon  the  footing 
of  the  most  favored  nations  in  the  ports  above  mentioned. 

ART.  IX.    The  particular  convention  signed  this  day  by  the 


282  EMBARGO   ACT  [December  22 

respective  ministers,1  having  for  its  object  to  provide  for  the  pay 
ment  of  debts  due  to  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  by  the 
French  Republic,  prior  to  the  3oth  of  September,  1800,  (8th  Ven- 
demiaire,  an.  9,)  is  approved,  and  to  have  its  execution  in  the 
same  manner  as  if  it  had  been  inserted  in  this  present  treaty; 
and  it  shall  be  ratified  in  the  same  form  and  in  the  same  time, 
so  that  the  one  shall  not  be  ratified  distinct  from  the  other. 

Another  particular  convention  2  signed  at  the  same  date  as  the 
present  treaty  relative  to  a  definitive  rule  between  the  contracting 
parties  is  in  the  like  manner  approved,  and  will  be  ratified  in  the 

same  form,  and  in  the  same  time,  and  jointly. 

*******  #3 


No.  66.     Embargo  Act 

December  22,  1807 

THE  provisions  in  the  treaty  of  1794  with  Great  Britain  relative  to  neutral 
commerce  expired  by  limitation  in  1806.  April  18,  1806,  Congress  passed  an 
act  prohibiting  the  importation  of  certain  articles  from  Great  Britain  and  her 
colonies  after  Nov.  15 ;  but  Dec.  19  the  act  was  suspended  until  July  i,  1807. 
Great  Britain  also  refused  to  give  up  her  asserted  right  of  impressment,  and 
on  Oct.  16,  1807,  a  proclamation  was  issued  "for  recalling  and  prohibiting 
British  seamen  from  serving  foreign  Princes  and  States."  In  a  message  of 
Dec.  18,  1807,  transmitting  a  copy  of  this  proclamation,  Jefferson  urged  the 
attention  of  Congress  to  "the  advantages  which  may  be  expected  from  an 
inhibition  of  the  departure  of  our  vessels  from  the  ports  of  the  United  States." 
A  bill  for  an  embargo  was  at  once  introduced  in  the  Senate,  and  passed  that 
body  the  same  day,  by  a  vote  of  22  to  6.  On  the  2ist  the  bill  with  amend 
ments  passed  the  House,  by  a  vote  of  82  to  44;  on  the  22d  the  amendments 
were  concurred  in  by  the  Senate,  and  the  act  was  approved.  An  act  of  April 
22,  1808,  authorized  the  President  to  suspend  the  embargo  acts  in  the  event 
of  peace  or  suspension  of  hostilities  between  the  European  belligerents. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  II.,  451-453.  For  the  dis 
cussions  in  Congress,  see  the  Annals,  loth  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  I.,  or  Benton's 
Abridgment,  III.  Numerous  documents  relating  to  British  depredations  on 
American  commerce  during  this  period  are  in  Amer.  State  Papers,  Foreign 
Relations,  III.:  see  particularly  the  royal  proclamation  of  Oct.  16,  1807,  ib., 
25,  26;  report  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  March  2,  1808,  on  impressment  of 

1  Text  in  Treaties  and  Conventions  (ed.  1889),  335-338.  —  ED. 

2  Text  in  Treaties  and  Conventions  (cd.  1889),  334,  335.  —  ED. 

3  Signed:  "  Robert  R.  Livingstone,  James  Monroe,  F.  Barbe  Marbois."  —  ED. 


1807]  EMBARGO  ACT  283 

American  seamen,  ib.,  36-79;  and  message  of  Dec.  28,  1808,  transmitting 
orders  and  decrees  of  belligerent  powers  affecting  neutral  commerce  since 
1791,  ib.,  262-294.  For  the  various  supplementary  acts  of  Jan.  9,  March  12, 
April  22,  and  April  25,  1808,  and  Jan.  9,  1809,  see  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  II., 
453,  454,  473-475,  490,  499-502,  506-511;  for  judicial  decisions  under  the 
acts,  ib.,  451,  452.  On  the  effect  of  the  embargo,  see  Gallatin's  annual  report, 
Dec.  16,  1808,  in  Amer.  State  Papers,  Finance,  II.,  307-309.  Carey's  Olive 
Branch  (ed.  1815)  collects  numerous  documents  for  this  period.  The  best 
general  account  is  in  Adams's  United  States,  IV. 

An  ACT  laying  an  Embargo  on  all  ships  and  vessels  in  the  ports 
and  harbors  of  the  United  States. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  an  embargo  be,  and  hereby  is  laid  on 
all  ships  and  vessels  in  the  ports  and  places  within  the  limits  or 
jurisdiction  of  the  United  States,  cleared  or  not  cleared,  bound  to 
any  foreign  port  or  place ;  and  that  no  clearance  be  furnished  to 
any  ship  or  vessel  bound  to  such  foreign  port  or  place,  except 
vessels  under  the  immediate  direction  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States:  and  that  the  President  be  authorized  to  give  such 
instructions  to  the  officers  of  the  revenue,  and  of  the  navy  and 
revenue  cutters  of  the  United  States,  as  shall  appear  best  adapted 
for  carrying  the  same  into  full  effect:  Provided,  that  nothing 
herein  contained  shall  be  construed  to  prevent  the  departure  of 
any  foreign  ship  or  vessel,  either  in  ballast,  or  with  the  goods, 
wares  and  merchandise  on  board  of  such  foreign  ship  or  vessel, 
when  notified  of  this  act. 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  during  the  continuance 
of  this  act,  no  registered,  or  sea  letter  vessel,  having  on  board 
goods,  wares  and  merchandise,  shall  be  allowed  to  depart  from 
one  port  of  the  United  States  to  any  other  within  the  same,  unless 
the  master,  owner,  consignee  or  factor  of  such  vessel  shall  first 
give  bond,  with  one  or  more  sureties  to  the  collector  of  the  district 
from  which  she  is  bound  to  depart,  in  a  sum  of  double  the  value 
of  the  vessel  and  cargo,  that  the  said  goods,  wares,  or  merchandise 
shall  be  relanded  in  some  port  of  the  United  States,  dangers  of 
the  seas  excepted,  which  bond,  and  also  a  certificate  from  the 
collector  where  the  same  may  be  relanded,  shall  by  the  collector 
respectively  be  transmitted  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  All 
armed  vessels  possessing  public  commissions  from  any  foreign 
power,  are  not  to  be  considered  as  liable  to  the  embargo  laid  by 
this  act. 


284  NON-INTERCOURSE   ACT  [March  i 


No.  67.     Non-Intercourse  Act 

March  i,  1809 

DURING  the  early  part  of  the  session  of  1808-9  the  Federalists  made  un 
successful  attempts  to  secure  the  repeal  of  the  embargo  acts.  In  spite  of  its 
ruinous  effect  on  American  commerce,  the  embargo  was  still  regarded  with 
favor,  except  in  New  England.  In  February,  1809,  however,  the  statement 
of  J.  Q.  Adams  regarding  the  dangerous  condition  of  public  feeling  in  New 
England  led  the  Republican  leaders  to  modify  their  policy.  February  8  Wm. 
B.  Giles  of  Virginia  submitted  in  the  Senate  a  resolution  for  the  repeal  of  the 
embargo  after  March  4,  except  as  to  Great  Britain  and  France,  and  to  pro 
hibit  commercial  intercourse  with  those  nations.  February  14,  by  a  vote  of 
22  to  9,  the  resolution  was  agreed  to,  after  an  unsuccessful  attempt,  led  by 
Bayard,  to  strike  out  the  n  on -intercourse  clause.  A  bill  in  conformity  with 
the  resolution  was  introduced  on  the  i6th,  and  on  the  2ist  passed  the  Senate 
by  a  vote  of  21  to  12.  A  bill  to  the  same  effect  had  been  introduced  in  the 
House  Feb.  n,  and  was  still  under  discussion;  on  the  22d,  however,  it  was 
laid  on  the  table,  and  the  House  took  up  the  Senate  bill  in  its  place,  finally 
passing  it  with  amendments,  on  the  27th,  by  a  vote  of  81  to  40.  The  next 
day  the  Senate  agreed  to  the  House  amendments,  and  March  i  the  act  was 
approved. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  II.,  528-533.  The  proceed 
ings  of  Congress  are  in  the  Journals,  loth  Cong.,  2d  Sess. ;  for  the  discussions, 
including  debates  on  the  embargo  and  its  enforcement,  and  British  and  French 
aggressions,  see  the  Annals,  or  Benton's  Abridgment,  IV.  A  digest  of  deci 
sions  under  the  non-intercourse  acts  is  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  II.,  528. 

An  ACT  to  interdict  the  commercial  intercourse  between  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain  and  France,  and  their  dependencies; 
and  for  other  purposes. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  from  and  after  the  passing  of  this 
act,  the  entrance  of  the  harbors  and  waters  of  the  United  States 
and  of  the  territories  thereof,  be,  and  the  same  is  hereby  inter 
dicted  to  all  public  ships  and  vessels  belonging  to  Great  Britain  or 
France,  excepting  vessels  only  which  may  be  forced  in  by  distress, 
or  which  are  charged  with  despatches  or  business  from  the  govern 
ment  to  which  they  belong,  and  also  packets  having  no  cargo  nor 
merchandise  on  board.  And  if  any  public  ship  or  vessel  as  afore 
said,  not  being  included  in  the  exception  above  mentioned,  shall 
enter  any  harbor  or  waters  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United 
States,  or  of  the  territories  thereof,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  Presi- 


1809]  NON-INTERCOURSE  ACT  285 

dent  of  the  United  States,  or  such  other  person  as  he  shall  have 
empowered  for  that  purpose,  to  employ  such  part  of  the  land  and 
naval  forces,  or  of  the  militia  of  the  United  States,  or  the  territories 
thereof,  as  he  shall  deem  necessary,  to  compel  such  ship  or  vessel 
to  depart. 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  it  shall  not  be  lawful 
for  any  citizen  or  citizens  of  the  United  States  or  the  territories 
thereof,  nor  for  any  person  or  persons  residing  or  being  in  the 
same,  to  have  any  intercourse  with,  or  to  afford  any  aid  or  supplies 
to  any  public  ship  or  vessel  as  aforesaid,  which  shall,  contrary  to 
the  provisions  of  this  act,  have  entered  any  harbor  or  waters 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  or  the  territories 
thereof;  and  if  any  person  shall,  contrary  to  the  provisions  of 
this  act,  have  any  intercourse  with  such  ship  or  vessel,  or  shall 
afford  any  aid  to  such  ship  or  vessel,  either  in  repairing  the  said 
vessel  or  in  furnishing  her,  her  officers  and  crew  with  supplies  of 
any  kind  or  in  any  manner  whatever,  or  if  any  pilot  or  other  per 
son  shall  assist  in  navigating  or  piloting  such  ship  or  vessel,  unless 
it  be  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  her  beyond  the  limits  and  juris 
diction  of  the  United  States,  every  person  so  offending,  shall  for 
feit  and  pay  a  sum  not  less  than  one  hundred  dollars,  nor  exceeding 
ten  thousand  dollars ;  and  shall  also  be  imprisoned  for  a  term  not 
less  than  one  month,  nor  more  than  one  year. 

SEC.  3.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  from  and  after  the 
twentieth  day  of  May  next,  the  entrance  of  the  harbors  and  waters 
of  the  United  States  and  the  territories  thereof  be,  and  the  same 
is  hereby  interdicted  to  all  ships  or  vessels  sailing  under  the  flag 
of  Great  Britain  or  France,  or  owned  in  whole  or  in  part  by  any 
citizen  or  subject  of  either;  vessels  hired,  chartered  or  employed 
by  the  government  of  either  country,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  car 
rying  letters  or  despatches,  and  also  vessels  forced  in  by  distress 
or  by  the  dangers  of  the  sea,  only  excepted.  And  if  any  ship  or 
vessel  sailing  under  the  flag  of  Great  Britain  or  France,  or  owned 
in  whole  or  in  part  by  any  citizen  or  subject  of  either,  and  not 
excepted  as  aforesaid,  shall  after  the  said  twentieth  day  of  May 
next,  arrive  either  with  or  without  a  cargo,  within  the  limits  of  the 
United  States  or  of  the  territories  thereof,  such  ship  or  vessel,  to 
gether  with  the  cargo,  if  any,  which  may  be  found  on  board,  shall 
be  forfeited,  and  may  be  seized  and  condemned  in  any  court  of 


286  NON-INTERCOURSE  ACT  [March  i 

the  United  States  or  the  territories  thereof,  having  competent 
jurisdiction,  and  all  and  every  act  and  acts  heretofore  passed, 
which  shall  be  within  the  purview  of  this  act,  shall  be,  and  the 
same  are  hereby  repealed. 

SEC.  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  from  and  after  the 
twentieth  day  of  May  next,  it  shall  not  be  lawful  to  import  into 
the  United  States  or  the  territories  thereof,  any  goods,  wares  or 
merchandise  whatever,  from  any  port  or  place  situated  in  Great 
Britain  or  Ireland,  or  in  any  of  the  colonies  or  dependencies  of 
Great  Britain,  nor  from  any  port  or  place  situated  in  France,  or 
in  any  of  her  colonies  or  dependencies,  nor  from  any  port  or  place 
in  the  actual  possession  of  either  Great  Britain  or  France.  Nor 
shall  it  be  lawful  to  import  into  the  United  States,  or  the  terri 
tories  thereof,  from  any  foreign  port  or  place  whatever,  any 
goods,  wares .  or  merchandise  whatever,  being  of  the  growth, 
produce  or  manufacture  of  France,  or  of  any  of  her  colonies 
or  dependencies,  or  being  of  the  growth,  produce  or  manufacture 
of  Great  Britain  or  Ireland,  or  of  any  of  the  colonies  or  depend 
encies  of  Great  Britain,  or  being  of  the  growth,  produce  or  manu 
facture  of  any  place  or  country  in  the  actual  possession  of  either 
France  or  Great  Britain:  Provided,  that  nothing  herein  con 
tained  shall  be  construed  to  affect  the  cargoes  of  ships  or  vessels 
wholly  owned  by  a  citizen  or  citizens  of  the  United  States,  which 
had  cleared  for  any  port  beyond  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  prior 
to  ...  [December  22,  1807,]  ...  or  which  had  departed  for 
such  port  by  permission  of  the  President,  under  the  acts  supple 
mentary  to  the  act  laying  an  embargo  on  all  ships  and  vessels  in 
the  ports  and  harbors  of  the  United  States. 

******** 

SEC.  ii.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  President  of  the 
United  States  be,  and  he  hereby  is  authorized,  in  case  either 
France  or  Great  Britain  shall  so  revoke  or  modify  her  edicts,  as 
that  they  shall  cease  to  violate  the  neutral  commerce  of  the  United 
States,  to  declare  the  same  by  proclamation;  after  which  the 
trade  of  the  United  States,  suspended  by  this  act,  and  by  the 
.  .  .  [Embargo  Act]  .  .  .  and  the  several  acts  supplementary 
thereto,  may  be  renewed  with  the  nation  so  doing:  *  .  .  . 

SEC.  12.     And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  so  much  of  the   .  .  . 

1  See  act  of  March  2,  1811  (Stat.  at  Large,  II.,  651,  652).  —  ED. 


1809]  NON-INTERCOURSE  ACT  287 

[Embargo  Act]  .  .  .  and  of  the  several  acts  supplementary  thereto, 
as  forbids  the  departure  of  vessels  owned  by  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  exportation  of  domestic  and  foreign  merchandise 
to  any  foreign  port  or  place,  be  and  the  same  is  hereby  repealed, 
after  .  .  .  [March  15,  1809,]  .  .  .  except  so  far  as  they  relate  to 
Great  Britain  or  France,  or  their  colonies  or  dependencies,  or 
places  in  the  actual  possession  of  either.  .  .  . 

SEC.  13.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  during  the  continu 
ance  of  so  much  of  the  .  .  .  [Embargo  Act],  .  .  .  and  of  the 
several  acts  supplementary  thereto,  as  is  not  repealed  by  this  act, 
no  ship  or  vessel  bound  to  a  foreign  port,  with  which  commercial 
intercourse  shall,  by  virtue  of  this  act,  be  again  permitted,  shall 
be  allowed  to  depart  for  such  port,  unless  the  owner  or  owners, 
consignee  or  factor  of  such  ship  or  vessel  shall,  with  the  master, 
have  given  bond  with  one  or  more  sureties  to  the  United  States, 
in  a  sum  double  the  value  of  the  vessel  and  cargo,  if  the  vessel  is 
wholly  owrned  by  a  citizen  or  citizens  of  the  United  States;  and 
in  a  sum  four  times  the  value,  if  the  vessel  is  owned  in  part  or  in 
whole  by  any  foreigner  or  foreigners,  that  the  vessel  shall  not 
leave  the  port  without  a  clearance,  nor  shall,  when  leaving  the 
port,  proceed  to  any  port  or  place  in  Great  Britain  or  France,  or 
in  the  colonies  or  dependencies  of  either,  or  in  the  actual  pos 
session  of  either,  nor  be  directly  or  indirectly  engaged  during  the 
voyage  in  any  trade  \vith  such  port,  nor  shall  put  any  article  on 
board  of  any  other  vessel;  nor  unless  every  other  requisite  and 
provision  of  the  second  section  of  the  act,  intituled  "An  act  to 
enforce  and  make  more  effectual  an  act,  intituled  An  act  laying 
an  embargo  on  all  ships  and  vessels  in  the  ports  and  harbors  of 
the  United  States,  and  the  several  acts  supplementary  thereto,"  l 
shall  have  been  complied  with.  .  .  . 

SEC.  14.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  so  much  of  the  .  .  . 
[Embargo  Act]  .  .  .  and  of  the  several  acts  supplementary  thereto, 
as  compels  vessels  owned  by  citizens  of  the  United  States,  bound 
to  another  port  of  the  said  States,  or  vessels  licensed  for  the  coasting 
trade,  or  boats,  either  not  masted  or  not  decked,  to  give  bond, 
and  to  load  under  the  inspection  of  a  revenue  officer,  or  renders 
them  liable  to  detention,  merely  on  account  of  the  nature  of  their 
cargo,  (such  provisions  excepted  as  relate  to  collection  districts 

1  Act  of  Jan.  9,  1809  (Stat.  at  Large,  II.,  so6-5ii>  -—  ED. 


288  DECLARATION   OF  WAR  [June  18 

adjacent  to  the  territories,  colonies  or  provinces  of  a  foreign 
nation,  or  to  vessels  belonging  or  bound  to  such  districts)  be,  and 
the  same  is  hereby  repealed,  from  and  after  .  .  .  [March  15, 

1809]  .  .  . 

******** 

[SEC.  17  repeals  act  of  April  18,  1806,  and  supplementary  act, 

after  May  20.] 

*'*  *  *  *  *  *  * 

SEC.  19.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  this  act  shall  con 
tinue  and  be  in  force  until  the  end  of  the  next  session  of  Congress, 
and  no  longer;  and  that  the  act  laying  an  embargo  on  all  ships 
and  vessels  in  the  ports  and  harbors  of  the  United  States,  and  the 
several  acts  supplementary  thereto,  shall  be,  and  the  same  are 
hereby  repealed  from  and  after  the  end  of  the  next  session  of 
Congress. 


No.  68.    Declaration  of  War 

t 

June  18,  1812 

MADISON'S  message  of  June  i  was  referred  in  the  House  to  the  Committee 
on  Foreign  Relations.  June  3  Calhoun  reported  from  the  committee  a  bill 
declaring  war  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain.  The  bill  passed 
the  House  the  following  day  by  a  vote  of  79  to  49,  after  strong  opposition. 
The  bill  with  amendments  was  reported  by  a  select  committee  of  the  Senate 
on  the  8th;  on  the  nth,  by  a  vote  of  17  to  13,  it  was  recommitted.  Several 
amendments  were  reported  on  the  i2th,  but  were  rejected  by  a  tie  vote;  and 
by  vote  of  21  to  n  the  first  report  of  the  committee,  with  amendments,  was 
agreed  to.  Determined  efforts  were  made  to  postpone  or  further  amend  the 
bill,  but  without  success,  and  on  the  i7th  the  bill  passed,  by  a  vote  of  19  to  13. 
On  the  i8th  the  House  concurred  in  the  Senate  amendments,  and  on  the 
same  day  the  act  was  approved.  A  proclamation  announcing  the  existence 
of  war  was  issued  June  19. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  II.,  755.  For  the  proceed 
ings,  see  the  House  and  Senate  Supplementary  Journals,  i2th  Cong.,  ist  Sess. 
The  discussions  are  reported  briefly  in  the  Annals,  and  in  Benton's  Abridg 
ment,  IV.  Calhoun's  report  is  in  A mer.  State  Papers,  Foreign  Relations,  III., 
567-570.  The  Orders  in  Council  were  withdrawn  June  16;  for  the  announce 
ment,  June  23,  see  Annual  Register,  1812,  pp.  379-381.  There  is  an  analysis 
by  States  of  the  vote  in  the  House,  June  4,  in  McMaster's  United  States,  III., 
457,  458-  For  tne  address  of  the  Federalist  minority  to  their  constituents,  see 
the  Annals,  2196-2221. 


iSt2]  TREATY   OF   GHENT  289 

An  Act  declaring  War  between  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland  and  the  dependencies  thereof,  and  the  United  States 
of  America  and  their  territories. 

Be  it  enacted  .'..-,  That  war  be  and  the  same  is  hereby  declared 
to  exist  between  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland 
and  the  dependencies  thereof,  and  the  United  States  of  America 
and  their  territories;  and  that  the  President  of  the  United  States 
is  hereby  authorized  to  use  the  whole  land  and  naval  force  of  the 
United  States  to  carry  the  same  into  effect,  and  to  issue  to  private 
armed  vessels  of  the  United  States  commissions  or  letters  of  marque 
and  general  reprisal,  in  such  form  as  he  shall  think  proper,  and 
under  the  seal  of  the  United  States,  against  the  vessels,  goods,  and 
effects  of  the  government  of  the  said  United  Kingdom  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  and  the  subjects  thereof. 


No.  69.    Treaty  of  Ghent 

December  24,  1814 

THE  offer  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia  to  mediate  between  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States  was  accepted  by  the  latter,  and  on  April  15,  1813,  instruc 
tions  were  issued  to  commissioners.  Great  Britain,  however,  declined  the 
offer  of  mediation,  and  suggested  direct  negotiation ;  the  suggestion  was  ac 
cepted,  additional  commissioners  were  appointed,  and  new  instructions  is 
sued  Jan.  28,  1814.  The  commissioners  held  their  first  conference  at  Ghent 
July  n.  The  treaty  was  concluded  Dec.  24;  Feb.  17,  1815,  ratifications  were 
exchanged  at  Washington.  The  conclusion  of  the  treaty  was  announced  to 
Congress  Feb.  20. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  VIII.,  218-223.  The  diplo 
matic  correspondence  is  in  Amer.  State  Papers,  Foreign  Relations,  III.,  695- 
748;  IV.,  808-811.  For  dispatches  and  instructions  of  the  British  commis 
sioners,  see  the  Castlereagh  Correspondence,  series  III.,  vol.  II.  The  diary 
of  J.  Q.  Adams  during  the  negotiations  is  in  his  Memoirs,  II.,  603-662;  III., 
3-144.  Clay's  letters  are  in  Colton's  Private  Correspondence  of  Henry  Clay, 
24-44;  Gallatin's,  in  Adams's  Writings  of  Gallatin,  I.,  545-647.  See  also 
Treaties  and  Conventions  (ed.  1889),  1326-1328,  notes  on  the  treaty  by  J.  C. 
B.  Davis. 

ARTICLE  THE  FIRST. 

There  shall  be  a  firm  and  universal  peace  between  His  Britan 
nic  Majesty  and  the  United  States,  and  between  their  respective 


2QO  TREATY   OF   GHENT  [December  24 

countries,  territories,  cities,  towns,  and  people,  of  every  degree, 
without  exception  of  places  or  persons.  All  hostilities,  both  by 
sea  and  land,  shall  cease  as  soon  as  this  treaty  shall  have  been 
ratified  by  both  parties,  as  hereinafter  mentioned.  All  territory, 
places,  and  possessions  whatsoever,  taken  by  either  party  from 
the  other,  during  the  war,  or  which  may  be  taken  after  the  sign 
ing  of  this  treaty,  excepting  only  the  islands  hereinafter  men 
tioned,  shall  be  restored  without  delay,  and  without  causing  any 
destruction,  or  carrying  away  any  of  the  artillery  or  other  public 
property  originally  captured  in  the  said  forts  or  places,  and  which 
shall  remain  therein  upon  the  exchange  of  the  ratifications  of  this 
treaty,  or  any  slaves  or  other  private  property.  And  all  archives, 
records,  deeds,  and  papers,  either  of  a  public  nature,  or  belong 
ing  to  private  persons,  which,  in  the  course  of  the  war,  may  have 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  officers  of  either  party,  shall  be,  as 
far  as  may  be  practicable,  forthwith  restored  and  delivered  to 
the  proper  authorities  and  persons  to  whom  they  respectively 
belong.  Such  of  the  islands  in  the  Bay  of  Passamaquoddy  as  are 
claimed  by  both  parties,  shall  remain  in  the  possession  of  the 
party  in  whose  occupation  they  may  be  at  the  time  of  the  exchange 
of  the  ratifications  of  this  treaty,  until  the  decision  respecting  the 
title  to  the  said  islands  shall  have  been  made  in  conformity  with 
the  fourth  article  of  this  treaty.  No  disposition  made  by  this 
treaty,  as  to  such  possession  of  the  islands  and  territories  claimed 
by  both  parties,  shall,  in  any  manner  whatever,  be  construed  to 
affect  the  right  of  either. 


ARTICLE  THE  FOURTH. 

Whereas  it  was  stipulated  by  the  second  article  in  the  treaty 
of  peace  ...  [of  1783]  .  .  .  that  the  boundary  of  the  United 
States  should  comprehend  all  islands  within  twenty  leagues  of  any 
part  of  the  shores  of  the  United  States,  and  lying  between  lines  to 
be  drawn  due  east  from  the  points  where  the  aforesaid  boundaries, 
between  Nova  Scotia,  on  the  one  part,  and  East  Florida  on  the 
other,  shall  respectively  touch  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  and  the  Atlantic 
ocean,  excepting  such  islands  as  now  are,  or  heretofore  have  been, 
within  the  limits  of  Nova  Scotia;  and  whereas  the  several  islands 
in  the  Bay  of  Passamaquoddy,  which  is  part  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy, 


2814]  TREATY   OF   GHENT  29! 

and  the  island  of  Grand  Menan  in  the  said  Bay  of  Funcy,  are 
claimed  by  the  United  States  as  being  comprehended  within 
their  aforesaid  boundaries,  which  said  islands  are  claimed  as 
belonging  to  his  Britannic  Majesty,  as  having  been  at  the  time 
of,  and  previous  to,  the  aforesaid  treaty  .  .  .  ,  within  the  limits  of 
the  province  of  Nova-Scotia :  In  order,  therefore,  finally  to  decide 
upon  these  claims,  it  is  agreed  that  they  shall  be  referred  to  two 
commissioners  to  be  appointed  in  the  following  manner,  viz: 
one  commissioner  shall  be  appointed  by  his  Britannic  Majesty, 
and  one  by  the  president  of  the  United  States,  by  and  with  the 
advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate  thereof  .  .  .  [The  commis 
sioners  to  meet  at  St.  Andrews,  N.  B.  In  case  of  disagreement,  the 
matter  to  be  referred  to  the  decision  of  some  friendly  Power.1] 

ARTICLE  THE  FIFTH. 

Whereas  neither  that  point  of  the  high  lands  lying  due  north 
from  the  source  of  the  river  St.  Croix,  and  designated  in  the 
former  treaty  of  peace  between  the  two  powers  as  the  northwest 
angle  of  Nova-Scotia,  nor  the  northwesternmost  head  of  Con 
necticut  river,  has  yet  been  ascertained;  and  whereas  that  part 
of  the  boundary  line  between  the  dominions  of  the  two  powers 
which  extends  from  the  source  of  the  river  St.  Croix  directly  north 
to  the  abovementioned  northwest  angle  of  Nova-Scotia,  thence 
along  the  said  highlands  which  divide  those  rivers  that  empty 
themselves  into  the  river  St.  Lawrence  from  those  which  fall 
into  the  Atlantic  ocean  to  the  northwesternmost  head  of  Con 
necticut  river,  thence  down  along  the  middle  of  that  river  to  the 
forty-fifth  degree  of  north  latitude ;  thence  by  a  line  due  west  on 
said  latitude  until  it  strikes  the  river  Iroquois  or  Cataraguy,  has 
not  yet  been  surveyed :  it  is  agreed,  that  for  these  several  purposes 
two  commissioners  shall  be  appointed,  sworn,  and  authorized  to 
act  exactly  in  the  manner  directed  with  respect  to  those  mentioned 
in  the  next  preceding  article,  unless  otherwise  specified  in  the  pres 
ent  article.  [The  commissioners  to  meet  at  St.  Andrews,  N.  B. 
Boundary  to  be  surveyed  and  marked.  In  case  of  disagreement, 
the  matter  to  be  referred  to  the  decision  of  some  friendly  Power,  as 
in  Art.  IV.] 

1  For  the  declaration  and  decision  of  the  commissioners  under  this    article 
Nov.  24,  1817,  see  Treaties  and  Conventions  (ed.  1889),  405,  406.  —  ED. 


292  TREATY   OF    GHENT  [December  24 


ARTICLE  THE  SIXTH. 

Whereas,  by  the  former  treaty  of  peace  that  portion  of  the  boun 
dary  of  the  United  States  from  the  point  where  the  forty-fifth 
degree  of  north  latitude  strikes  the  river  Iroquois  or  Cataraguy 
to  the  lake  Superior,  was  declared  to  be  "  along  the  middle  of 
said  river  into  lake  Ontario,  through  the  middle  of  said  lake 
until  it  strikes  the  communication  by  water  between  that  lake  and 
lake  Erie,  thence  along  the  middle  of  said  communication  into 
lake  Erie,  through  the  middle  of  said  lake  until  it  arrives  at  the 
water  communication  into  the  lake  Huron,  thence  through  the 
middle  of  said  lake  to  the  water  communication  between  that 
lake  and  lake  Superior."  And  whereas  doubts  have  arisen  what 
was  the  middle  of  the  said  river,  lakes  and  water  communica 
tions,  and  whether  certain  islands  lying  in  the  same  were  within 
the  dominions  of  his  Britannic  majesty  or  of  the  United  States: 
In  order,  therefore,  finally  to  decide  these  doubts,  they  shall  be 
referred  to  two  commissioners,  to  be  appointed,  sworn,  and 
authorized  to  act  exactly  in  the  manner  directed  with  respect 
to  those  mentioned  in  the  next  preceding  article,  unless  other 
wise  specified  in  this  present  article.  [The  commissioners  to 
meet  at  Albany.  Boundary  to  be  designated.  In  case  of  dis 
agreement,  the  matter  to  be  referred  to  the  decision  of  some  friendly 
power,  as  in  Art.  IV.1] 

ARTICLE  THE  SEVENTH. 

[The  commissioners  provided  for  in  Art.  VI.  to  determine  the 
boundary  between  Lakes  Huron  and  Superior  and  the  Lake  of  the 
Woods.  In  case  of  disagreement,  the  matter  to  be  referred  to 
the  decision  of  some  friendly  Power,  as  in  Art.  IV.] 


ARTICLE  THE  NINTH. 

The  United  States  of  America  engage  to  put  an  end,  immedi 
ately  after  the  ratification  of  the  present  treaty,  to  hostilities  with 
all  the  tribes  or  nations  of  Indians  with  whom  they  may  be  at  war 

1  For  the  decision  of  the  commissioners  under  this  article,  June  22,  1822,  see 
Treaties  and  Conventions  (ed.  1889),  407-409.  —  ED. 


1814]        REPORT   OF  'THE   HARTFORD    CONVENTION          293 

at  the  time  of  such  ratification;  and  forthwith  to  restore  to  such 
tribes  or  nations,  respectively,  all  the  possessions,  rights,  and 
privileges,  which  they  may  have  enjoyed  or  been  entitled  to  in 
.  .  .  [1811]  .  .  .  ,  previous  to  such  hostilities:  Provided  always, 
That  such  tribes  or  nations  shall  agree  to  desist  from  all  hostilities, 
against  the  United  States  of  America,  their  citizens  and  subjects, 
upon  the  ratification  of  the  present  treaty  being  notified  to  such 
tribes  or  nations,  and  shall  so  desist  accordingly.  And  his  Britan 
nic  Majesty  engages,  on  his  part,  to  put  an  end  immediately  after 
the  ratification  of  the  present  treaty,  to  hostilities  with  all  the  tribes 
or  nations  of  Indians  with  whom  he  may  be  at  war  at  the  time  of 
such  ratification,  and  forthwith  to  restore  to  such  tribes  or  nations, 
respectively,  all  the  possessions,  rights,  and  privileges,  which  they 
may  have  enjoyed  or  been  entitled  to,  in  .  .  .  [1811]  .  .  .  , 
previous  to  such  hostilities:  Provided  always,  that  such  tribes  or 
nations  shall  agree  to  desist  from  all  hostilities  against  his  Britan 
nic  majesty,  and  his  subjects,  upon  the  ratification  of  the  present 
treaty  being  notified  to  such  tribes  or  nations,  and  shall  so  desist 
accordingly. 

ARTICLE  THE  TENTH. 

Whereas  the  traffic  in  slaves  is  irreconcileable  with  the  prin 
ciples  of  humanity  and  justice,  and  whereas  both  his  Majesty 
and  the  United  States  are  desirous  of  continuing  their  efforts  to 
promote  its  entire  abolition,  it  is  hereby  agreed  that  both  the  con 
tracting  parties  shall  use  their  best  endeavors  to  accomplish  so 
desirable  an  object. 


No.  70.     Report  of  the  Hartford  Convention 

January  4,  1815 

EARLY  in  1814  many  towns  in  Massachusetts  presented  memorials  to  the 
legislature,  setting  forth  the  dangers  to  which  the  war  with  Great  Britain  ex 
posed  them,  and  suggesting  the  appointment  of  delegates,  "to  meet  delegates 
from  such  other  States  as  might  think  proper  to  appoint  them,  for  the  purpose 

1  Signed:  "Gambier,  Henry  Goulburn,  William  Adams,  John  Quincy  Adams, 
J.  A.  Bayard,  H.  Clay,  Jona.  Russell,  Albert  Gallatin."  —  ED. 


294          REPORT   OF  THE   HARTFORD    CONVENTION     [Jan.  4 

of  devising  proper  measures  to  procure  the  united  efforts  of  the  commercial 
states,  to  obtain  such  amendments  and  explanations  of  the  constitution  as  will 
secure  them  from  further  evils"  (Dwight).  The  matter  was  favorably  con 
sidered  by  the  legislature,  and  Oct.  18  twelve  delegates  were  elected  in  a  joint 
session  of  the  two  houses,  by  a  vote  of  226  to  67.  The  action  of  Massachu 
setts  was  followed  by  the  election  of  seven  delegates  by  the  legislature  of  Con 
necticut,  which  already  had  under  consideration  suggestions  of  a  similar 
nature,  and  of  four  delegates  by  the  legislature  of  Rhode  Island.  The  dele 
gates  thus  chosen,  together  with  two  from  New  Hampshire  and  one  from 
Vermont,  representing  local  conventions  in  those  States,  met  at  Hartford  Dec. 
15,  and  remained  in  session  until  Jan.  5,  1815.  The  proceedings  of  the 
convention  were  secret,  but  the  report,  from  which  an  extract  follows,  was 
published  and  widely  circulated.  The  legislatures  of  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut  sent  commissioners  to  Washington  to  urge  the  submission  of  the 
amendments  to  the  Constitution  suggested  by  the  convention;  but  the  war 
had  ended  before  they  arrived,  and  their  recommendations  were  disregarded. 
The  injunction  of  secrecy  laid  upon  the  members  of  the  convention,  and  the 
failure  to  make  public  the  journal,  led  to  the  impression  that  the  proceedings 
were  of  a  treasonable  nature,  and  had  in  view  a  dissolution  of  the  Union. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  D wight's  History  of  the  Hartford  Convention 
(ed.  1833),  352-379;  the  extract  here  given  is  on  pp.  368-379.  The  report 
is  also  in  Niles's  Register,  VII.,  305-313,  where  are  also,  pp.  328-332,  com 
mercial  and  financial  statistics  published  by  order  of  the  convention.  The 
journal  is  also  in  Dwight,  op.  cit.,  383-398.  R.  M.  Sherman's  account  of  the 
convention  is  in  Niles's  Register,  XXXIX.,  434,  435;  see  also  ib.,  VII.,  185- 
189,  193-197.  257>  258>  32I-326>  337.  338>  369~37I>  a  series  of  articles  hostile 
to  the  convention. 

[After  severe  general  criticism  of  the  Administration,  and  of 
the  policy  by  which  "this  remote  country,  once  so  happy  and  so 
envied,"  is  now  "  involved  in  a  ruinous  war,  and  excluded  from 
intercourse  with  the  rest  of  the  world,"  the  report  continues:] 

To  investigate  and  explain  the  means  whereby  this  fatal  reverse 
has  been  effected,  would  require  a  voluminous  discussion.  Noth 
ing  more  can  be  attempted  in  this  report  than  a  general  allusion  to 
the  principal  outlines  of  the  policy  which  has  produced  this  vicis 
situde.  Among  these  may  be  enumerated  — 

First.  —  A  deliberate  and  extensive  system  for  effecting  a  com 
bination  among  certain  states,  by  exciting  local  jealousies  and 
ambition,  so  as  to  secure  to  popular  leaders  in  one  section  of  the 
Union,  the  controul  of  public  affairs  in  perpetual  succession.  To 
which  primary  object  most  other  characteristics  of  the  system  may 
be  reconciled. 

Secondly.  —  The  political  intolerance  displayed  and  avowed  in 


1815]         REPORT   OF  THE   HARTFORD    CONVENTION  295 

excluding  from  office  men  of  unexceptionable  merit,  for  want  of 
adherence  to  the  executive  creed. 

Thirdly.  —  The  infraction  of  the  judiciary  authority  and  rights, 
by  depriving  judges  of  their  offices  in  violation  of  the  constitu 
tion. 

Fourthly.  —  The  abolition  of  existing  taxes,  requisite  to  prepare 
the  country  for  those  changes  to  which  nations  are  always  ex 
posed,  with  a  view  to  the  acquisition  of  popular  favour. 

Fifthly.  —  The  influence  of  patronage  in  the  distribution  of 
offices,  which  in  these  states  has  been  almost  invariably  made 
among  men  the  least  entitled  to  such  distinction,  and  who  have 
sold  themselves  as  ready  instruments  for  distracting  public  opin 
ion,  and  encouraging  administration  to  hold  in  contempt  the 
wishes  and  remonstrances  of  a  people  thus  apparently  divided. 

Sixthly.  —  The  admission  of  new  states  into  the  Union  formed 
at  pleasure  in  the  western  region,  has  destroyed  the  balance  of 
power  which  existed  among  the  original  States,  and  deeply  affected 
their  interest. 

Seventhly.  —  The  easy  admission  of  naturalized  foreigners,  to 
places  of  trust,  honour  or  profit,  operating  as  an  inducement  to 
the  malcontent  subjects  of  the  old  world  to  come  to  these  States, 
in  quest  of  executive  patronage,  and  to  repay  it  by  an  abject  de 
votion  to  executive  measures. 

Eighthly.  —  Hostility  to  Great  Britain,  and  partiality  to  the  late 
government  of  France,  adopted  as  coincident  with  popular  preju 
dice,  and  subservient  to  the  main  object,  party  power.  Connected 
with  these  must  be  ranked  erroneous  and  distorted  estimates  of 
the  power  and  resources  of  those  nations,  of  the  probable  results 
of  their  controversies,  and  of  our  political  relations  to  them  re 
spectively. 

Lastly  and  principally.  —  A  visionary  and  superficial  theory  in 
regard  to  commerce,  accompanied  by  a  real  hatred  but  a  feigned 
regard  to  its  interests,  and  a  ruinous  perseverance  in  efforts  to 
render  it  an  instrument  of  coercion  and  war. 

But  it  is  not  conceivable  that  the  obliquity  of  any  administra 
tion  could,  in  so  short  a  period,  have  so  nearly  consummated  the 
work  of  national  ruin,  unless  favoured  by  defects  in  the  constitu 
tion. 

To  enumerate  all  the  improvements  of  which  that  instrument  ;s 


296  REPORT   OF  THE   HARTFORD    CONVENTION      [Jan.  4 

susceptible,  and  to  propose  such  amendments  as  might  render  it  in 
all  respects  perfect,  would  be  a  task  which  this  convention  has 
not  thought  proper  to  assume.  They  have  confined  their  atten 
tion  to  such  as  experience  has  demonstrated  to  be  essential,  and 
even  among  these,  some  are  considered  entitled  to  a  more  serious 
attention  than  others.  They  are  suggested  without  any  intentional 
disrespect  to  other  states,  and  are  meant  to  be  such  as  all  shall  find 
an  interest  in  promoting.  Their  object  is  to  strengthen,  and  if 
possible  to  perpetuate,  the  union  of  the  states,  by  removing  the 
grounds  of  existing  jealousies,  and  providing  for  a  fair  and  equal 
representation,  and  a  limitation  of  powers,  which  have  been  mis 
used. 

The  first  amendment  proposed,  relates  to  the  apportionment  of 
representatives  among  the  slave  holding  states.  This  cannot  be 
claimed  as  a  right.  Those  states  are  entitled  to  the  slave  represen 
tation,  by  a  constitutional  compact.  It  is  therefore  merely  a 
subject  of  agreement,  which  should  be  conducted  upon  principle? 
of  mutual  interest  and  accommodation,  and  upon  which  no  sensi 
bility  on  either  side  should  be  permitted  to  exist.  It  has  proved 
unjust  and  unequal  in  its  operation.  Had  this  effect  been  fore 
seen,  the  privilege  would  probably  not  have  been  demanded; 
certainly  not  conceded.  Its  tendency  in  future  will  be  adverse  to 
that  harmony  and  mutual  confidence  which  are  more  conducive 
to  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  every  confederated  state,  than 
a  mere  preponderance  of  power,  the  prolific  source  of  jealousies 
and  controversy,  can  be  to  any  one  of  them.  The  time  may 
therefore  arrive,  when  a  sense  of  magnanimity  and  justice  will 
reconcile  those  states  to  acquiesce  in  a  revision  of  this  article , 
especially  as  a  fair  equivalent  would  result  to  them  in  the  appor 
tionment  of  taxes. 

The  next  amendment  relates  to  the  admission  of  new  states  into 
the  Union. 

This  amendment  is  deemed  to  be  highly  important,  and  in  fact 
indispensable.  In  proposing  it,  it  is  not  intended  to  recognize 
the  right  of  Congress  to  admit  new  states  without  the  original 
limits  of  the  United  States,  nor  is  any  idea  entertained  of  disturb 
ing  the  tranquillity  of  any  state  already  admitted  into  the  Union. 
The  object  is  merely  to  restrain  the  constitutional  power  of  Con 
gress  in  admitting  new  states.  At  the  adoption  of  the  constitution, 


1815]         REPORT   OF  THE   HARTFORD    CONVENTION          29} 

a  certain  balance  of  power  among  the  original  parties  was  consid 
ered  to  exist,  and  there  was  at  that  time,  and  yet  is  among  those 
parties,  a  strong  affinity  between  their  great  and  general  interests. 
—  By  the  admission  of  these  states  that  balance  has  been  materi 
ally  affected,  and  unless  the  practice  be  modified,  must  ultimately 
be  destroyed.  The  southern  states  will  first  avail  themselves  of 
their  new  confederates  to  govern  the  east,  and  finally  the  western 
states,  multiplied  in  number,  and  augmented  in  population,  will 
control  the  interests  of  the  whole.  Thus  for  the  sake  of  present 
power,  the  southern  states  will  be  common  sufferers  with  the  east, 
in  the  loss  of  permanent  advantages.  None  of  the  old  states  can 
find  an  interest  in  creating  prematurely  an  overwhelming  \vestern 
influence,  which  may  hereafter  discern  (as  it  has  heretofore)  bene 
fits  to  be  derived  to  them  by  wars  and  commercial  restrictions. 

The  next  amendments  proposed  by  the  convention,  relate  to 
the  powers  of  Congress,  in  relation  to  embargo  and  the  interdic 
tion  of  commerce. 

Whatever  theories  upon  the  subject  of  commerce  have  hitherto 
divided  the  opinions  of  statesmen,  experience  has  at  last  shown 
that  it  is  a  vital  interest  in  the  United  States,  and  that  its  success 
is  essential  to  the  encouragement  of  agriculture  and  manufactures, 
and  to  the  wealth,  finances,  defence,  and  liberty  of  the  nation. 
Its  welfare  can  never  interfere  with  the  other  great  interests  of  the 
state,  but  must  promote  and  uphold  them.  Still  those  who  are 
immediately  concerned  in  the  prosecution  of  commerce,  will  of 
necessity  be  always  a  minority  of  the  nation.  They  are,  however, 
best  qualified  to  manage  and  direct  its  course  by  the  advantages 
of  experience,  and  the  sense  of  interest.  But  they  are  entirely 
unable  to  protect  themselves  against  the  sudden  and  injudicious 
decisions  of  bare  majorities,  and  the  mistaken  or  oppressive  proj 
ects  of  those  who  are  not  actively  concerned  in  its  pursuits.  Of 
consequence,  this  interest  is  always  exposed  to  be  harassed,  inter 
rupted,  and  entirely  destroyed,  upon  pretence  of  securing  other 
interests.  Had  the  merchants  of  this  nation  been  permitted  by 
their  own  government  to  pursue  an  innocent  and  lawful  commerce, 
how  different  would  have  been  the  state  of  the  treasury  and  of 
public  credit !  How  short-sighted  and  miserable  is  the  policy 
which  has  annihilated  this  order  of  men,  and  doomed  their  ships 
to  rot  in  the  docks,  their  capital  to  waste  unemployed,  and  their 


298          REPORT   OF  THE   HARTFORD   CONVENTION      [Jan.  4 

affections  to  be  alienated  from  the  government  which  was  formed 
to  protect  them  !  What  security  for  an  ample  and  unfailing  reve 
nue  can  ever  be  had,  comparable  to  that  which  once  was  realized 
in  the  good  faith,  punctuality,  and  sense  of  honour,  which  attached 
the  mercantile  class  to  the  interests  of  the  government !  Without 
commerce,  where  can  be  found  the  aliment  for  a  navy ;  and  with 
out  a  navy,  what  is  to  constitute  the  defence,  and  ornament,  and 
glory  of  this  nation !  No  union  can  be  durably  cemented,  in 
which  every  great  interest  does  not  find  itself  reasonably  secured 
against  the  encroachment  and  combinations  of  other  interests. 
When,  therefore,  the  past  system  of  embargoes  and  commercial 
restrictions  shall  have  been  reviewed  —  when  the  fluctuation  and 
inconsistency  of  public  measures,  betraying  a  want  of  information 
as  well  as  feeling  in  the  majority,  shall  have  been  considered, 
the  reasonableness  of  some  restrictions  upon  the  power  of  a 
bare  majority  to  repeat  these  oppressions,  will  appear  to  be  obvi 
ous. 

The  next  amendment  proposes  to  restrict  the  power  of  making 
offensive  war.  In  the  consideration  of  this  amendment,  it  is  not 
necessary  to  inquire  into  the  justice  of  the  present  war.  But  one 
sentiment  now  exists  in  relation  to  its  expediency,  and  regret  for 
its  declaration  is  nearly  universal.  No  indemnity  can  ever  be 
attained  for  this  terrible  calamity,  and  its  only  palliation  must  be 
found  in  obstacles  to  its  future  recurrence.  Rarely  can  the  state 
of  this  country  call  for  or  justify  offensive  war.  The  genius  of 
our  institutions  is  unfavourable  to  its  successful  prosecution;  the 
felicity  of  our  situation  exempts  us  from  its  necessity.  In  this 
case,  as  in  the  former,  those  more  immediately  exposed  to  its 
fatal  effects  are  a  minority  of  the  nation.  The  commercial  towns, 
the  shores  of  our  seas  and  rivers,  contain  the  population  whose 
vital  interests  are  most  vulnerable  by  a  foreign  enemy.  Agricul 
ture,  indeed,  must  feel  at  last,  but  this  appeal  to  its  sensibility 
comes  too  late.  Again,  the  immense  population  which  has 
swarmed  into  the  west,  remote  from  immediate  danger,  and  which 
is  constantly  augmenting,  will  not  be  averse  from  the  occasional 
disturbances  of  the  Atlantic  states.  Thus  interest  may  not  unfre- 
quently  combine  with  passion  and  intrigue,  to  plunge  the  nation 
into  needless  wars,  and  compel  it  to  become  a  military,  rather 
than  a  happy  and  flourishing  people.  These  considerations,  which 


REPORT  OF  THE  HARTFORD  CONVENTION    299 

it  would  be  easy  to  augment,  call  loudly  for  the  limitation  pro 
posed  in  the  amendment. 

Another  amendment,  subordinate  in  importance,  but  still  in  a 
high  degree  expedient,  relates  to  the  exclusion  of  foreigners  here 
after  arriving  in  the  United  States  from  the  capacity  of  holding 
offices  of  trust,  honour,  or  profit. 

That  the  stock  of  population  already  in  these  states  is  amply 
sufficient  to  render  this  nation  in  due  time  sufficiently  great  and 
powerful,  is  not  a  controvertible  question.  Nor  will  it  be  seriously 
pretended,  that  the  national  deficiency  in  wisdom,  arts,  science, 
arms,  or  virtue,  needs  to  be  replenished  from  foreign  countries. 
Still,  it  is  agreed,  that  a  liberal  policy  should  offer  the  rights  of 
hospitality,  and  the  choice  of  settlement,  to  those  who  are  disposed 
to  visit  the  country.  But  why  admit  to  a  participation  in  the 
government  aliens  who  were  no  parties  to  the  compact  —  who  are 
ignorant  of  the  nature  of  our  institutions,  and  have  no  stake  in 
the  welfare  of  the  country  but  what  is  recent  and  transitory?  It 
is  surely  a  privilege  sufficient,  to  admit  them  after  due  probation 
to  become  citizens,  for  all  but  political  purposes.  To  extend  it 
beyond  these  limits,  is  to  encourage  foreigners  to  come  to  these 
states  as  candidates  for  preferment.  The  Convention  forbear  to 
express  their  opinion  upon  the  inauspicious  effects  which  have 
already  resulted  to  the  honour  and  peace  of  this  nation,  from  this 
misplaced  and  indiscriminate  liberality. 

The  last  amendment  respects  the  limitation  of  the  office  of 
President  to  a  single  constitutional  term,  and  his  eligibility  from 
the  same  state  two  terms  in  succession. 

Upon  this  topic  it  is  superfluous  to  dilate.  The  love  of  power 
is  a  principle  in  the  human  heart  which  too  often  impels  to  the 
use  of  all  practicable  means  to  prolong  its  duration.  The  office 
of  President  has  charms  and  attractions  which  operate  as  power 
ful  incentives  to  this  passion.  The  first  and  most  natural  exertion 
of  a  vast  patronage  is  directed  towards  the  security  of  a  new  elec 
tion.  The  interest  of  the  country,  the  welfare  of  the  people,  even 
honest  fame  and  respect  for  the  opinion  of  posterity,  are  secondary 
considerations.  All  the  engines  of  intrigue,  all  the  means  of  cor 
ruption  are  likely  to  be  employed  for  this  object.  A  President 
whose  political  career  is  limited  to  a  single  election,  may  find  no 
other  interest  than  will  be  promoted  by  making  it  glorious  to  him- 


300          REPORT   OF  THE  HARTFORD   CONVENTION     [Jan.  4 

self,  and  beneficial  to  his  country.  But  the  hope  of  re-election  is 
prolific  of  temptations,  under  which  these  magnanimous  motives 
are  deprived  of  their  principal  force.  The  repeated  election  of 
the  President  of  the  United  States  from  any  one  state,  affords 
inducements  and  means  for  intrigues,  which  tend  to  create  an 
undue  local  influence,  and  to  establish  the  domination  of  particu 
lar  states.  The  justice,  therefore,  of  securing  to  every  state  a  fair 
and  equal  chance  for  the  election  of  this  officer  from  its  own 
citizens  is  apparent,  and  this  object  will  be  essentially  promoted 
by  preventing  an  election  from  the  same  state  twice  in  succession. 

•x--*-*-***-** 
THEREFORE  RESOLVED, 

That  it  be  and  hereby  is  recommended  to  the  legislatures  of 
the  several  states  represented  in  this  Convention,  to  adopt  all  such 
measures  as  may  be  necessary  effectually  to  protect  the  citizens  of 
said  states  from  the  operation  and  effects  of  all  acts  which  have 
been  or  may  be  passed  by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
which  shall  contain  provisions,  subjecting  the  militia  or  other  citi 
zens  to  forcible  drafts,  conscriptions,  or  impressments,  not  author 
ised  by  the  constitution  of  the  United  States. 

Resolved,  That  it  be  and  hereby  is  recommended  to  the  said 
Legislatures,  to  authorize  an  immediate  and  earnest  application 
to  be  made  to  the  government  of  the  United  States,  requesting 
their  consent  to  some  arrangement,  whereby  the  caid  states  may, 
separately  or  in  concert,  be  empowered  to  assume  upon  them 
selves  the  defence  of  their  territory  against  the  enemy;  and  a 
reasonable  portion  of  the  taxes,  collected  within  said  States,  may 
be  paid  into  the  respective  treasuries  thereof,  and  appropriated  to 
the  payment  of  the  balance  due  said  states,  and  to  the  future 
defence  of  the  same.  The  amount  so  paid  into  the  said  treasuries 
to  be  credited,  and  the  disbursements  made  as  aforesaid  to  be 
charged  to  the  United  States. 

Resolved,  That  it  be,  and  hereby  is,  recommended  to  the  legis 
latures  of  the  aforesaid  states,  to  pass  laws  (where  it  has  not 
already  been  done)  authorizing  the  governors  or  commanders-in- 
chief  of  their  militia  to  make  detachments  from  the  same,  or  to 
form  voluntary  corps,  as  shall  be  most  convenient  and  conform 
able  to  their  constitutions,  and  to  cause  the  same  to  be  well  armed, 
equipped,  and  disciplined,  and  held  in  readiness  for  service;  and 


1815]        REPORT   OF  THE   HARTFORD   CONVENTION          301 

upon  the  request  of  the  governor  of  either  of  the  other  states  to 
employ  the  whole  of  such  detachment  or  corps,  as  well  as  the 
regular  forces  of  the  state,  or  such  part  thereof  as  may  be  re 
quired  and  can  be  spared  consistently  with  the  safety  of  the  state, 
in  assisting  the  state,  making  such  request  to  repel  any  invasion 
thereof  which  shall  be  made  or  attempted  by  the  public  enemy. 

Resolved,  That  the  following  amendments  of  the  constitution  of 
the  United  States  be  recommended  to  the  states  represented  as 
aforesaid,  to  be  proposed  by  them  for  adoption  by  the  state  legis 
latures,  and  in  such  cases  as  may  be  deemed  expedient  by  a  con 
vention  chosen  by  the  people  of  each  state. 

And  it  is  further  recommended,  that  the  said  states  shall  perse 
vere  in  their  efforts  to  obtain  such  amendments,  until  the  same 
shall  be  effected. 

First.  Representatives  and  direct  taxes  shall  be  apportioned 
among  the  several  states  which  may  be  included  within  this  Union, 
according  to  their  respective  numbers  of  free  persons,  including 
those  bound  to  serve  for  a  term  of  years,  and  excluding  Indians 
not  taxed,  and  all  other  persons. 

Second.  No  new  state  shall  be  admitted  into  the  Union  by 
Congress,  in  virtue  of  the  power  granted  by  the  constitution,  with 
out  the  concurrence  of  two  thirds  of  both  houses. 

Third.  Congress  shall  not  have  power  to  lay  any  embargo  on 
the  ships  or  vessels  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  in  the 
ports  or  harbours  thereof,  for  more  than  sixty  days. 

Fourth.  Congress  shall  not  have  power,  without  the  concur 
rence  of  two  thirds  of  both  houses,  to  interdict  the  commercial 
intercourse  between  the  United  States  and  any  foreign  nation,  or 
the  dependencies  thereof. 

Fifth.  Congress  shall  not  make  or  declare  war,  or  authorize 
acts  of  hostility  against  any  foreign  nation,  without  the  concur 
rence  of  two  thirds  of  both  houses,  except  such  acts  of  hostility  be 
in  defence  of  the  territories  of  the  United  States  when  actually 
invaded. 

Sixth.  No  person  who  shall  hereafter  be  naturalized,  shall  be 
eligible  as  a  member  of  the  senate  or  house  of  representatives  of 
the  United  States,  nor  capable  of  holding  any  civil  office  under 
the  authority  of  the  United  States. 

Seventh.     The  same  person  shall  not  be  elected  president  of 


302  ACT   FOR  A   NATIONAL   BANK  [April  ic 

the  United  States  a  second  time;  nor  shall  the  president  be  elected 
from  the  same  state  two  terms  in  succession. 

******** 


No.  71.     Act  for  a  National  Bank 

April  10,  1816 

THE  charter  of  the  first  bank  of  the  United  States  expired  in  181 1,  and  the 
effort  to  renew  it  was  unsuccessful.  A  bill  to  incorporate  a  bank  was  vetoed 
by  Madison  Jan.  30,  1815.  In  his  annual  message,  Dec.  5,  1815,  Madison 
urged  the  necessity  of  an  uniform  national  currency,  and  suggested  a  national 
bank.  In  the  House  this  part  of  the  message  was  referred  to  a  select  com 
mittee,  of  which  Calhoun  was  chairman,  and  Jan.  8,  1816,  Calhoun  reported 
a  bill  to  incorporate  the  subscribers  to  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  The 
bill  was  not  taken  up  until  Feb.  26;  it  was  then  considered  at  nearly  every 
session  until  March  14,  when  it  passed  by  a  vote  of  80  to  71.  The  bill  with 
amendments  passed  the  Senate  April  3,  by  a  vote  of  22  to  12.  April  5  the 
House  concurred  in  the  Senate  amendments;  on  the  loth  the  act  was  ap 
proved.  Only  the  significant  portions  of  the  act  are  here  given. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  III.,  266-277.  For  the  pro 
ceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  i4th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.;  for  the 
discussions  see  the  Annals,  or  Benton's  Abridgment,  V.  The  speeches  of 
Calhoun,  Clay,  and  Webster  (the  latter  against  the  bank)  are  of  especial  im 
portance.  The  letter  of  Dallas,  Secretary  of  theTreasury,  to  Calhoun,  outlin 
ing  a  plan  for  a  national  bank,  is  in  A mer.  State  Papers,  Finance,  III.,  57-61 ; 
the  act  followed  in  the  main  Dallas's  suggestions.  The  veto  message  of  Jan. 
30,  1815,  with  the  text  of  the  bill,  is  in  Amer.  State  Papers,  Finance,  II.,  891- 
895;  Spencer's  report  in  the  House,  Jan.  16,  1819,  on  the  conduct  of  the 
bank,  ib.,  III.,  306-391;  the  petition  of  the  bank  for  changes  in  its  charter, 
Jan.  12,  1821,  ib.,  III.,  586-594.  The  definitive  history  is  Catterall's  Second 
Bank  of  the  United  States.  On  the  constitutionality  of  a  national  bank 
the  leading  case  is  McCulloch  v.  Maryland,  4  Wheaton,  316-437.  Most  of 
the  discussion  over  the  bank  belongs  to  a  later  period. 

An  Act  to  incorporate  the  subscribers  to  the  Bank  of  the  United  States. 
Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  a  bank  of  the  United  States  of  America 
shall  be  established,  with  a  capital  of  thirty-five  millions  of  dollars, 
divided  into  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  shares,  of  one  hun 
dred  dollars  each  share.  Seventy  thousand  shares,  amounting 
to  the  sum  of  seven  millions  of  dollars,  part  of  the  capital  of  the 
said  bank,  shall  be  subscribed  and  paid  for  by  the  United  States, 
in  the  manner  hereinafter  specified;  and  two  hundred  and  eighty 


1816]  ACT   FOR   A   NATIONAL   BANK  303 

thousand  shares,  amounting  to  the  sum  of  twenty-eight  millions  of 
dollars,  shall  be  subscribed  and  paid  for  by  individuals,  companies, 
or  corporations,  in  the  manner  hereinafter  specified.  .  .  . 

SEC.  8.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  for  the  management 
of  the  affairs  of  the  said  corporation,  there  shall  be  twenty-five 
directors,  five  of  whom,  being  stockholders,  shall  be  annually 
appointed  by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  by  and  with  the 
advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  not  more  than  three  of  whom 
shall  be  residents  of  any  one  state ;  and  twenty  of  whom  shall  be 
annually  elected  at  the  banking  house  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia, 
on  the  first  Monday  of  January,  in  each  year,  by  the  qualified 
stockholders  of  the  capital  of  the  said  bank,  other  than  the  United 
States,  and  by  a  plurality  of  votes  then  and  there  actually  given, 
according  to  the  scale  of  voting  hereinafter  prescribed :  Provided 
always,  That  no  person,  being  a  director  in  the  bank  of  the  United 
States,  or  any  of  its  branches,  shall  be  a  director  of  any  other 
bank  .  .  . 

SEC.  9.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  .  .  .  And  the  President 
of  the  United  States  is  hereby  authorized,  during  the  present  ses 
sion  of  Congress,  to  nominate,  and,  by  and  with  the  advice  and 
consent  of  the  Senate,  to  appoint,  five  directors  of  the  said  bank, 
though  not  stockholders,  any  thing  in  the  provisions  of  this  act  to 
the  contrary  notwithstanding  .  .  . 

SEC.  ii.     And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  following  rules, 
restrictions,  limitations,  and  provisions,  shall  form  and  be  funda 
mental  articles  of  the  constitution  of  the  said  corporation,  to  wit: 
******** 

Eighth.  The  total  amount  of  debts  which  the  said  corporation 
shall  at  any  time  owe,  whether  by  bond,  bill,  note,  or  other  con 
tract,  over  and  above  the  debt  or  debts  due  for  money  deposited 
in  the  bank,  shall  not  exceed  the  sum  of  thirty-five  millions  of  dol 
lars,  unless  the  contracting  of  any  greater  debt  shall  have  been 
previously  authorized  by  law  of  the  United  States.  .  .  . 

******** 

Ninth.  The  said  corporation  shall  not,  directly  or  indirectly, 
deal  or  trade  in  any  thing  except  bills  of  exchange,  gold  or  silver 
bullion,  or  in  the  sale  of  goods  really  and  truly  pledged  for  money 
lent  and  not  redeemed  in  due  time,  or  goods  which  shall  be  the 
proceeds  of  its  lands.  It  shall  not  be  at  liberty  to  purchase  any 


304  ACT   FOR   A   NATIONAL   BANK  [April  10 

public  debt  whatsoever,  nor  shall  it  take  more  than  at  the  rate  of 
six  per  centum  per  annum  for  or  upon  its  loans  or  discounts. 

Tenth.  No  loan  shall  be  made  by  the  said  corporation,  for  the 
use  or  on  account  of  the  government  of  the  United  States,  to  an 
amount  exceeding  five  hundred  thousand  dollars,  or  of  any  particu 
lar  state,  to  an  amount  exceeding  fifty  thousand  dollars,  or  of  any 
foreign  prince  or  state,  unless  previously  authorized  by  a  law  of  the 
United  States. 

######*# 

Fourteenth.  The  directors  of  the  said  corporation  shall  estab 
lish  a  competent  office  of  discount  and  deposit  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  whenever  any  law  of  the  United  States  shall  require 
such  an  establishment;  also  one  such  office  of  discount  and  de 
posit  in  any  state  in  which  two  thousand  shares  shall  have  been 
subscribed  or  may  be  held,  whenever,  upon  application  of  the 
legislature  of  such  state,  Congress  may,  by  law,  require  the  same : 
.  .  .  And  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  directors  of  the  said  corporation 
to  establish  offices  of  discount  and  deposit,  wheresoever  they  shall 
think  fit,  within  the  United  States  or  the  territories  thereof,  and 
to  commit  the  management  of  the  said  offices,  and  the  business 
thereof,  respectively  to  such  persons,  and  under  such  regulations 
as  they  shall  deem  proper,  not  being  contrary  to  law  or  the  con 
stitution  of  the  bank.  Or  instead  of  establishing  such  offices,  it 
shall  be  lawful  for  the  directors  of  the  said  corporation,  from  time 
to  time,  to  employ  any  other  bank  or  banks,  to  be  first  approved 
by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  at  any  place  or  places  that  they 
may  deem  safe  and  proper,  to  manage  and  transact  the  business 
proposed  as  aforesaid,  other  than  for  the  purposes  of  discount,  to  be 
managed  and  transacted  by  such  offices,  under  such  agreements, 
and  subject  to  such  regulations,  as  they  shall  deem  just  and 
proper.  .  .  . 

Fifteenth.  The  officer  at  the  head  of  the  Treasury  Department 
of  the  United  States  shall  be  furnished,  from  time  to  time,  as  often 
as  he  may  require,  not  exceeding  once  a  week,  with  statements 
of  the  amount  of  the  capital  stock  of  the  said  corporation  and  of 
the  debts  due  to  the  same;  of  the  moneys  deposited  therein;  of 
the  notes  in  circulation,  and  of  the  specie  in  hand ;  and  shall  have 
a  right  to  inspect  such  general  accounts  in  the  books  of  the  bank 
as  shall  relate  to  the  said  statement :  Provided,  That  this  shall  not 


,8 1 6]  ACT   FOR   A   NATIONAL   BANK  305 

be  construed  to  imply  a  right  of  inspecting  the  account  of  an)1 
private  individual  or  individuals  with  the  bank.  .  .  . 

SEC.  14.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  bills  or  notes  of 
the  said  corporation  originally  made  payable,  or  which  shall  have 
become  payable  on  demand,  shall  be  receivable  in  all  payments 
to  the  United  States,  unless  otherwise  directed  by  act  of  Congress. 

SEC.  15.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  during  the  continu 
ance  of  this  act,  and  whenever  required  by  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  the  said  corporation  shall  give  the  necessary  facilities 
for  transferring  the  public  funds  from  place  to  place,  within  the 
United  States,  or  the  territories  thereof,  and  for  distributing  the 
same  in  payment  of  the  public  creditors,  without  charging  com 
missions  or  claiming  allowance  on  account  of  difference  of  exchange, 
and  shall  also  do  and  perform  the  several  and  respective  duties  of 
the  commissioners  of  loans  for  the  several  states,  or  of  any  one 
or  more  of  them,  whenever  required  by  law. 

SEC.  1 6.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  deposits  of  the 
money  of  the  United  States,  in  places  in  which  the  said  bank  and 
branches  thereof  may  be  established,  shall  be  made  in  said  bank 
or  branches  thereof,  unless  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  shall  at 
any  time  otherwise  order  and  direct ;  in  which  case  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  shall  immediately  lay  before  Congress,  if  in  ses 
sion,  and  if  not,  immediately  after  the  commencement  of  the  next 
session,  the  reasons  of  such  order  or  direction. 

SEC.  17.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  said  corporation 
shall  not  at  any  time  suspend  or  refuse  payment  in  gold  and 
silver,  of  any  of  its  notes,  bills  or  obligations;  nor  of  any  moneys 
received  upon  deposit  in  said  bank,  or  in  any  of  its  offices  of  dis 
count  and  deposit.  .  .  . 

SEC.  20.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  in  consideration  of 
the  exclusive  privileges  and  benefits  conferred  by  this  act,  upon 
the  said  bank,  the  president,  directors,  and  company  thereof, 
shall  pay  to  the  United  States,  out  of  the  corporate  funds  thereof, 
the  sum  of  one  million  and  five  hundred  thousand  dollars,  in  three 
equal  payments ;  that  is  to  say :  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  at 
the  expiration  of  two  years;  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  at  the 
expiration  of  three  years ;  and  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  at  the 
expiration  of  four  years  after  the  said  bank  shall  be  organized,  and 
commence  its  operations  in  the  manner  herein  before  provided- 


306  TREATY   WITH   SPAIN   FOR   THE    FLORIDAS     [Feb.  23 

SEC.  21.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  no  other  bank  shall 
be  established  by  any  future  law  of  the  United  States  during  the 
continuance  of  the  corporation  hereby  created,  for  which  the  faith 
of  the  United  States  is  hereby  pledged  .  .  .  [except  in  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia].  .  .  . 


No.  72.     Treaty  with  Spain  for  the  Floridas 

February  22,  1819 

PARTLY  because  of  disputes  regarding  claims,  and  partly  because  of  the 
establishment  by  the  United  States  of  a  customs  district  which  included  Mo 
bile,  the  King  of  Spain  refused  to  ratify  the  treaty  of  1802.  Efforts  to  adjust 
the  differences  between  the  two  countries  failed,  and  in  1808  diplomatic 
relations  were  broken  off.  October  27,  1810,  Madison  by  proclamation 
directed  Claiborne,  governor  of  Orleans  Territory,  to  take  possession  of  West 
Florida  for  the  United  States,  and  secret  acts  of  Jan.  15  and  March  3,  1811, 
authorized  the  President  to  take  temporary  possession  of  East  Florida.  Dip 
lomatic  relations  were  resumed  in  1815,  and  a  long  correspondence  followed, 
ending  in  the  treaty  of  Feb.  22,  1819.  The  treaty  was  not  ratified  by  Spain 
until  Oct.  24,  1820,  and  was  again  ratified  by  the  Senate  Feb.  19,  1821.  An 
act  of  March  3,  1821,  authorized  the  President  to  take  possession  of  East  and 
West  Florida  in  accordance  with  the  treaty. 

REFERENCES.  —  English  and  Spanish  text  in  U.  S.  at  Large,  VIII.,  252- 
264.  The  diplomatic  correspondence  is  in  Amer.  State  Papers,  Foreign  Re 
lations,  IV.,  V.,  and  Annals,  i5th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  II.,  appendix^  For  im 
portant  contemporary  views,  see  J.  Q.  Adams's  Memoirs,  IV.,  V.;  Benton's 
Thirty  Years'  View,  I.,  chap.  6  ;  II.,  chaps.  42,  155;  Clay's  speech  on  the 
treaty,  in  his  Life  and  Speeches  (ed.  1844),  I.,  392-404;  and  various  letters 
of  Gal  latin,  in  his  Writings  (Adams's  ed.),  II.  See  also  Wharton's  Intern. 
Law  Digest  (ed.  1887),  II.,  277-287;  Donaldson's  Public  Domain,  108-120 
(H.  Misc.  Doc.,  47th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  vol.  19). 

******** 

ARTICLE  i. 

There  shall  be  a  firm  and  inviolable  peace  and  sincere  friend 
ship  between  the  United  States  and  their  citizens,  and  his  Catholic 
Majesty,  his  successors  and  subjects,  without  exception  of  persong 
or  places. 


1819]         TREATY   WITH  SPAIN   FOR  THE   FLORIDAS  307 


ARTICLE  2. 

His  Catholic  Majesty  cedes  to  the  United  States,  in  full  property 
and  sovereignty,  all  the  territories  which  belong  to  him,  situated 
to  the  eastward  of  the  Mississippi,  known  by  the  name  of  East  and 
West  Florida.  .  .  . 

ARTICLE  3. 

The  boundary  line  between  the  two  countries,  west  of  the  Mis 
sissippi,  shall  begin  on  the  Gulph  of  Mexico,  at  the  mouth  of 
the  river  Sabine,  in  the  sea,  continuing  north,  along  the  western 
bank  of  that  river,  to  the  32d  degree  of  latitude;  thence,  by  a  line 
due  north,  to  the  degree  of  latitude  where  it  strikes  the  Rio  Roxo 
of  Nachitoches,  or  Red  River;  then  following  the  course  of  the 
Rio  Roxo  westward,  to  the  degree  of  longitude  100  west  from 
London  and  23  from  Washington;  then,  crossing  the  said  Red 
River,  and  running  thence,  by  a  line  due  north,  to  the  river  Ar 
kansas;  thence,  following  the  course  of  the  southern  bank  of 
the  Arkansas,  to  its  source,  in  latitude  42  north;  and  thence,  by 
that  parallel  of  latitude,  to  the  South  Sea.  The  whole  being  as 
laid  down  in  Melish's  map  of  the  United  States,  published  at 
Philadelphia,  improved  to  the  first  of  January,  1818.  But,  if  the 
source  of  the  Arkansas  river  shall  be  found  to  fall  north  or  south 
of  latitude  42,  then  the  line  shall  run  from  the  said  source  due 
south  or  north,  as  the  case  may  be,  till  it  meets  the  said  parallel 
of  latitude  42,  and  thence,  along  the  said  parallel,  to  the  South 
Sea :  All  the  islands  in  the  Sabine,  and  the  said  Red  and  Arkansas 
rivers,  throughout  the  course  thus  described,  to  belong  to  the 
United  States;  but  the  use  of  the  waters,  and  the  navigation  of 
the  Sabine  to  the  sea,  and  of  the  said  rivers  Roxo  and  Arkansas, 
throughout  the  extent  of  the  said  boundary,  on  their  respective 
banks,  shall  be  common  to  the  respective  inhabitants  of  both 
nations. 

******** 

ARTICLE  5. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  ceded  territories  shall  be  secured  in  the 
free  exercise  of  their  religion,  without  any  restriction;  and  all 


308  TREATY  WITH   SPAIN   FOR  THE   FLORIDAS     [Feb.  22 

those  who  may  desire  to  remove  to  the  Spanish  dominions,  shall 
be  permitted  to  sell  or  export  their  effects,  at  any  time  whatever, 
without  being  subject,  in  either  case,  to  duties. 

ARTICLE  6. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  territories  which  his  Catholic  Majesty 
cedes  to  the  United  States,  by  this  Treaty,  shall  be  incorporated 
in  the  Union  of  the  United  States,  as  soon  as  may  be  consistent 
with  the  principles  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  and  admitted  to 
the  enjoyment  of  all  the  privileges,  rights,  and  immunities,  of  the 
citizens  of  the  United  States. 

ARTICLE  8. 

[Grants  of  land  prior  to  Jan.  24,  1818,  to  be  ratified  and  con 
firmed;  all  subsequent  grants  to  be  null  and  void.] 

ARTICLE  9. 

The  two  high  contracting  parties,  animated  with  the  most  earnest 
desire  of  conciliation,  and  with  the  object  of  putting  an  end  to  all 
the  differences  which  have  existed  between  them,  and  of  confirming 
the  good  understanding  which  they  wish  to  be  forever  maintained 
between  them,  reciprocally  renounce  all  claims  for  damages  or 
injuries  which  they,  themselves,  as  well  as  their  respective  citizens 
and  subjects,  may  have  suffered  until  the  time  of  signing  this 
Treaty. 

The  renunciation  of  the  United  States  will  extend  to  all  the 
injuries  mentioned  in  the  Convention  of  the  nth  of  August,  1802. 

2.  To  all  claims  on  account  of  prizes  made  by  French  priva 
teers,  and  condemned  by  French  consuls,  within  the  territory  and 
jurisdiction  of  Spain. 

3.  To  all  claims  of  indemnities  on  account  of  the  suspension 
of  the  right  of  deposit  at  New-Orleans,  in  1802. 

4.  To  all  claims  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  upon  the  govern 
ment  of  Spain,  arising  from  the  unlawful  seizures  at  sea,  and  in 
the  ports  and  territories  of  Spain,  or  the  Spanish  colonies. 

5.  To  all  claims  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  upon  the  Span 
ish  government,   statements  of    which,   soliciting   the   interposi 
tion  of  the  government  of  the  United  States,  have  been  presented 


1819]         TREATY  WITH   SPAIN   FOR   THE   FLORIDAS  309 

to  the  Department  of  State,  or  to  the  Minister  of  the  United  States 
in  Spain,  since  the  date  of  the  Convention  of  1802,  and  until  the 
signature  of  this  Treaty. 
The  renunciation  of  his  Catholic  Majesty  extends: 

1.  To  all  the  injuries  mentioned  in  the  Convention  of  the  nth 
of  August,  1802. 

2.  To  the  sums  which  his  Catholic  Majesty  advanced  for  the 
return  of  Captain  Pike  from  the  Provincias  Internas. 

3.  To  all  injuries  caused  by  the  expedition  of  Miranda,  that 
was  fitted  out  and  equipped  at  New-York. 

4.  To  all  claims  of  Spanish  subjects  upon  the  government  of 
the  United  States,  arising  from  unlawful  seizures  at  sea,  or  within 
the  ports  and  territorial  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States. 

Finally,  to  all  the  claims  of  subjects  of  his  Catholic  Majesty 
upon  the  government  of  the  United  States,  in  which  the  interposi 
tion  of  his  Catholic  Majesty's  government  has  been  solicited, 
before  the  date  of  this  Treaty,  and  since  the  date  of  the  Convention 
of  1802,  or  which  may  have  been  made  to  the  Department  of 
Foreign  Affairs  of  his  Majesty,  or  to  his  Minister  in  the  United 
States. 

And  the  high  contracting  parties,  respectively,  renounce  all 
claim  to  indemnities  for  any  of  the  recent  events  or  transactions 
of  their  respective  commanders  and  officers  in  the  Floridas. 

The  United  States  will  cause  satisfaction  to  be  made  for  the 
injuries,  if  any,  which,  by  process  of  law,  shall  be  established  to 
have  been  suffered  by  the  Spanish  officers,  and  individual  Spanish 
inhabitants,  by  the  later  operations  of  the  American  army  in 
Florida.1 

ARTICLE  10. 

The  Convention  entered  into  between  the  two  governments,  on 
the  nth  of  August,  1802,  the  ratifications  of  which  were  exchanged 
the  2ist  December,  1818,  is  annulled. 

ARTICLE  n. 

The  United  States,  exonerating  Spain  from  all  demands  in  future, 
on  account  of  the  claims  of  their  citizens  to  which  the  renun- 

1  The  act  of  March  3,  1823,  to  carry  into  effect  Art.  IX.,  is  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at 
Large,  III.,  768.  —  ED. 


310         TREATY  WITH   SPAIN   FOR  THE   FLORID  AS       [Feb.  22 

ciations  herein  contained  extend,  and  considering  them  entirely 
cancelled,  undertake  to  make  satisfaction  for  the  same,  to  an 
amount  not  exceeding  five  millions  of  dollars.  .  .  .l 

ARTICLE  12. 

The  Treaty  of  Limits  and  Navigation,  of  1795,  remains  con 
firmed  in  all,  and  each  one  of,  its  articles,  excepting  the  2,  3,  4,  21 
and   the  second  clause  of  the   22d  article,   which,  having  beer 
altered  by  this  Treaty,  or  having  received  their  entire  execution, 
are  no  longer  valid. 

With  respect  to  the  i$th  article  of  the  same  Treaty  of  Friendship, 
Limits,  and  Navigation,  of  1795,  in  which  it  is  stipulated  that  the 
flag  shall  cover  the  property,  the  two  high  contracting  parties 
agree  that  this  shall  be  so  understood  with  respect  to  those  powers 
who  recognise  this  principle;  but,  if  either  of  the  two  contracting 
parties  shall  be  at  war  with  a  third  party,  and  the  other  neutral, 
the  flag  of  the  neutral  shall  cover  the  property  of  enemies  whose 
government  acknowledge  this  principle,  and  not  of  others. 
******** 

ARTICLE  14. 

The  United  States  hereby  certify  that  they  have  not  received 
any  compensation  from  France,  for  the  injuries  they  suffered  from 
her  privateers,  consuls,  and  tribunals,  on  the  coasts  and  in  the 
ports  of  Spain,  for  the  satisfaction  of  which  provision  is  made  by 
this  treaty;  and  they  will  present  an  authentic  statement  of  ttr. 
prizes  made,  and  of  their  true  value,  that  Spain  may  avail  herself 
of  the  same,  in  such  manner  as  she  may  deem  just  and  proper. 

ARTICLE  15. 

The  United  States,  to  give  to  his  Catholic  Majesty  a  proof  of 
their  desire  to  cement  the  relations  of  amity  subsisting  between 
the  two  nations,  and  to  favour  the  commerce  of  the  subjects  of 
his  Catholic  Majesty,  agree  that  Spanish  vessels,  coming  laden 

1  A  commission  under  this  article  was  provided  for  by  act  of  March  3,  1821 
(U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  III.,  637-639).  A  stock  to  provide  for  the  payment  of 
claims  was  created  by  act  of  May  24,  1824  (U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  IV.,  33,  34). 


1819]  MISSOURI   COMPROMISE  31! 

only  with  productions  of  Spanish  growth  or  manufactures,  directly 
from  the  ports  of  Spain,  or  of  her  colonies,  shall  be  admitted, 
for  the  term  of  twelve  years,  to  the  ports  of  Pensacola  and  St. 
Augustine,  in  the  Floridas,  without  paying  other  or  higher  duties 
on  their  cargoes,  or  of  tonnage,  than  will  be  paid  by  the  vessels 
of  the  United  States.  During  the  said  term,  no  other  nation  shall 
enjoy  the  same  privileges  within  the  ceded  territories.  The  twelve 
years  shall  commence  three  months  after  the  exchange  of  the 
ratifications  of  this  treaty. 

###***#  #1 


Missouri  Compromise 

1820-21 

THE  Territory  of  Missouri,  originally  a  part  of  the  Louisiana  purchase,  was 
organized  by  act  of  June  4,  1812.  January  8,  Feb.  2,  and  March  16,  1818, 
memorials  were  presented  in  the  House  praying  for  the  admission  of  the  Ter 
ritory  as  a  State.  An  enabling  act  was  reported  April  3,  but  there  was  no 
further  action  during  the  session.  December  18,  1818,  a  memorial  of  the 
Missouri  legislature,  praying  for  admission  as  a  State,  was  presented,  and 
Feb.  13,  1819,  the  House  took  up  the  enabling  act  of  the  previous  session. 
An  amendment  offered  by  Tallmadge,  of  New  York,  restricting  the  further 
extension  of  slavery  in  the  new  State,  gave  rise  to  much  discussion,  but  was 
finally  agreed  to  on  the  i6th,  by  two  votes  of  87  to  76  and  82  to  78,  and  on 
the  1 7th  the  bill  passed  the  House.  The  Senate,  Feb.  27,  by  votes  of  31  to  7 
and  22  to  16,  struck  out  the  Tallmadge  amendment,  and  on  March  2  passed 
the  bill  with  amendments.  The  House  refused  to  concur,  and  the  bill  was 
lost.  The  issue  was  now  joined  on  the  status  of  slavery  in  Missouri.  A  num 
ber  of  northern  legislatures  passed  resolutions  endorsing  the  Tallmadge  propo 
sition,  and  a  large  number  of  petitions  to  the  same  effect  were  transmitted  to 
Congress.  In  the  i6th  Congress,  which  met  Dec.  6,  1819,  the  admission  of 
Alabama  restored  the  balance  between  free  and  slave  States.  In  the  mean 
time,  the  people  of  the  District  of  Maine  had  held  a  convention  and  drafted  a 
State  constitution,  and  on  Dec.  8  the  memorial  of  the  convention,  praying 
admission  as  a  State,  was  presented  to  Congress.  A  bill  for  the  admission  of 
Maine  was  reported  in  the  House  Dec.  21,  and  passed  Jan.  3,  1820.  A  bill 
to  the  same  effect  had  been  reported  in  the  Senate  Dec.  22,  but  on  the  receipt 
of  the  House  bill  further  consideration  was  postponed.  In  the  Senate  the 
Maine  bill  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  which  reported 
amendments  in  the  form  of  a  "rider"  providing  for  the  admission  of  Missouri, 
without  probibition  of  slavery.  The  bill  as  amended  was  taken  up  Jan.  13, 

1  Signed:  "  John  Quincy  Adams,  Luis  de  Onis."  —  ED. 


312  MISSOURI   COMPROMISE  [1820 

and  discussed  until  Feb.  16,  when,  by  a  vote  of  23  to  21,  the  report  of  the 
committee  was  concurred  in.  February  3,  in  the  course  of  the  discussion, 
Senator  Thomas  of  Illinois  submitted  an  amendment  prohibiting  slavery  in 
the  territory  acquired  from  France  north  of  the  line  of  36°  30',  except  Mis 
souri  ;  the  amendment  was  withdrawn  on  the  yth,  however,  and  offered  again 
on  the  i6th;  on  the  lyth,  by  a  vote  of  34  to  10,  it  was  adopted.  On  the  i8th 
the  Maine  bill,  as  thus  amended,  passed  the  Senate. 

In  the  meantime,  the  House  also  had  been  considering  the  Missouri  ques 
tion.  December  8  the  Missouri  memorials  presented  in  the  previous  session 
had  been  referred  to  a  select  committee,  which  reported  an  enabling  act  on 
the  following  day.  The  bill  was  taken  up  Jan.  25,  and  debated  until  Feb.  18. 
On  the  23d,  so  much  of  the  Senate  amendments  as  comprised  the  Missouri 
enabling  act  was  disagreed  to,  by  a  vote  of  93  to  72,  and  the  Thomas  amend 
ment  was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  159  to  18.  On  the  28th  the  House  again  in 
sisted  on  its  disagreement  to  the  Senate  amendments,  the  votes  being  97  to 
76  on  ths  Missouri  portions,  and  160  to  14  on  the  Thomas  clause.  The  con 
sideration  of  the  Missouri  bill  was  meanwhile  continued.  On  the  26th  an 
amendment  to  the  same  effect  as  the  Thomas  amendment  in  the  Senate  was 
rejected,  and  on  the  29th  an  amendment  offered  by  Taylor,  of  New  York,  pro 
hibiting  slavery  in  Missouri,  was  concurred  in  by  a  vote  of  94  to  86 ;  March 
i,  by  a  vote  of  91  to  82,  the  bill  passed  the  House.  In  the  Senate  the  clause 
prohibiting  slavery  was  stricken  out,  and  the  Thomas  amendment  inserted. 
A  compromise  was  effected  by  a  conference  committee;  the  Maine  and  Mis 
souri  bills  were  passed  separately,  and  slavery  was  permitted  in  Missouri,  but 
prohibited  in  the  remainder  of  the  Louisiana  purchase  north  of  36°  30'.  The 
act  for  the  admission  of  Maine  was  approved  March  3,  and  the  act  authoriz 
ing  Missouri  to  form  a  state  government  was  approved  March  6. 

The  constitution  under  which  Missouri  applied  for  admission  contained  a 
clause  forbidding  free  negroes  to  enter  the  State.  The  constitution  was  trans 
mitted  to  Congress  at  the  beginning  of  the  session,  November,  1820.  A  reso 
lution  to  admit  Missouri  as  a  State  was  reported  in  the  Senate  Nov.  20,  taken 
up  Dec.  4,  and  debated  until  the  I2th,  when  it  was  passed.  In  the  House 
the  resolution  was  laid  on  the  table  until  Jan.  15,  1821,  when  it  was  taken  up 
and  debated  until  Feb.  2,  without  any  agreement  being  reached;  it  was  then, 
on  motion  of  Clay,  referred  to  a  select  committee  of  thirteen.  The  report  of 
the  committee,  on  the  loth,  recommended  amendments  similar  to  those  after 
wards  agreed  upon.  On  the  i2th,  after  agreeing  to  the  report,  the  third  read 
ing  was  refused  by  a  vote  of  80  to  83;  the  next  day  a  motion  to  reconsider 
was  carried,  101  to  66,  but,  by  a  vote  of  82  to  88,  the  third  reading  was  again 
refused.  On  the  22d  Clay  proposed  the  election  of  a  joint  committee  to  con 
sider  and  report  on  the  advisability  of  admitting  Missouri;  this  was  agreed  to 
by  a  vote  of  101  to  55,  and  on  the  following  day  the  committee  was  chosen. 
The  Senate,  in  the  meantime,  had  rejected  several  propositions  for  admission, 
but  agreed  to  the  plan  of  a  joint  committee  by  a  vote  of  29  to  7.  The  report 
of  the  committee,  in  the  terms  of  the  resolution  as  later  passed,  was  agreed  to 
by  the  House  Feb.  26,  by  a  vote  of  87  to  81 ;  the  Senate  agreed  to  the  report 
on  the  28th,  by  a  vote  of  28  to  14;  March  2  the  resolution  was  approved. 
The  condition  imposed  by  the  resolution  was  accepted  by  the  legislature  of 


i82o]  TAYLOR'S   AMENDMENT  313 

Missouri  June  26,  1821,  and  a  proclamation  of  Aug.  10  announced  the  admis 
sion  of  Missouri  as  a  State. 

The  extracts  following  relate  chiefly  to  the  question  of  slavery  as  involved 
in  the  compromises. 

REFERENCES.  —  Accompanying  each  of  the  following  extracts  is  an  indi 
cation  of  the  source  from  which  it  is  drawn.  The  act  for  the  admission  of 
Maine  is  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  III.,  544;  the  act  authorizing  Missouri  to 
form  a  State  constitution,  ib.,  III.,  545-548.  The  constitution  of  1820  is  in 
Poore's  Federal  and  State  Constitutions,  II.,  1104-1117,  and  Niles's  Register. 
XIX.,  50-57.  The  proceedings  of  Congress  may  be  followed  in  the  House 
and  Senate  Journals,  i6th  Cong.,  ist  and  2d  Sess.;  full  reports  of  the  debates 
are  in  the  Annals;  Benton's  Abridgment,  VI.,  VII.;  Niles's  Register,  XVII., 
XVIII.,  XIX.  The  nature  and  effect  of  the  compromise  were  much  discussed 
in  the  debates  on  the  compromise  measures  of  1850  and  the  Kansas-Nebraska 
act  of  1854. 


No.  73.     Tallmadge's  Amendment 

February  13,  1819 

And  provided,  That  the  further  introduction  of  slavery  or  invol 
untary  servitude  be  prohibited,  except  for  the  punishment  of 
crimes,  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  fully  [duly]  convicted; 
and  that  all  children  born  within  the  said  State,  after  the  admis 
sion  thereof  into  the  Union,  shall  be  free  at  the  age  of  twenty-five 
years. 

[Annals,  i5th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  1170.] 


No.  74.    Taylor's  Amendment 

January  26,  1820 

The  reading  of  the  bill  proceeded  as  far  as  the  fourth  section; 
when 

Mr.  Taylor,  of  New  York,  proposed  to  amend  the  bill  by  in 
corporating  in  that  section  the  following  provision : 

Section  4,  line  25,  insert  the  following  after  the  word  " States": 
"And  shall  ordain  and  establish,  that  there  shall  be  neither  slavery 
nor  involuntary  servitude  in  the  said  State,  otherwise  than  in  the 
punishment  of  crimes,  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  cou- 


314  MISSOURI   COMPROMISE  [1820 

victed :  Provided,  always,  That  any  person  escaping  into  the  same, 
from  whom  labor  or  service  is  lawfully  claimed  in  any  other  State, 
such  fugitive  may  be  lawfully  reclaimed,  and  conveyed  to  the  per 
son  claiming  his  or  her  labor  or  service  as  aforesaid:  And  pro 
vided,  also,  That  the  said  provision  shall  not  be  construed  to  alter 
the  condition  or  civil  rights  of  any  person  now  held  to  service  or 
labor  in  the  said  Territory." 

[Annals,  i6th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  947.] 


No.  75.     Thomas's  Amendment  (final  form) 

February  17,  1820 

And  be  it  further  enacted,  That,  in  all  that  territory  ceded  by 
France  to  the  United  States,  under  the  name  of  Louisiana,  which 
lies  north  of  thirty-six  degrees  and  thirty  minutes  north  latitude, 
excepting  only  such  part  thereof  as  is  included  within  the  limits  of 
the  State  contemplated  by  this  act,  slavery  and  involuntary  servi 
tude,  otherwise  than  in  the  punishment  of  crimes  whereof  the 
party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted,  shall  be  and  is  hereby  for 
ever  prohibited :  Provided  always,  That  any  person  escaping  into 
the  same,  from  whom  labor  or  service  is  lawfully  claimed  in  any 
State  or  Territory  of  the  United  States,  such  fugitive  may  be  law 
fully  reclaimed,  and  conveyed  to  the  person  claiming  his  or  her 
labor  or  service,  as  aforesaid. 

[Annals,  i6th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  427,  428.] 


No.  76.    Report  of  the  Conference  Committee 

March  i,  1820 
[House  of  Representatives] 

Mr.  Holmes  .  .  .  made  the  following  report: 

1.  That  they  recommend  to  the  Senate  to  recede  from  their 
amendments  to  the  said  bill. 

2.  That  they  recommend  to  the  two  Houses  to  agree  to  strike 
out  [of]  the  fourth  section  of  the  bill  from  the  House  of  Repre- 


!82o]  MISSOURI   ENABLING   ACT  315 

sentatives,  now  pending  in  the  Senate,  entitled  "An  act  to  au 
thorize  the  people  of  Missouri  to  form  a  constitution  and  State 
government,  and  for  the  admission  of  such  State  into  the  Union 
on  an  equal  footing  with  the  original  States,"  the  following  proviso 
in  the  following  words:  [here  follows  the  Taylor  amendment.] 

And  that  the  following  provision  be  added  to  the  bill:    [here 
follows  the  Thomas  amendment.] 

[Annals,  i6th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  1576,  1577.] 


No.  77.     Missouri  Enabling  Act 

March  6,  1820 

An  Act  to  authorize  the  people  of  the  Missouri  territory  to  form  a 
constitution  and  state  government,  and  for  the  admission  of  such 
state  into  the  Union  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  original  states, 
and  to  prohibit  slavery  in  certain  territories. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  the  inhabitants  of  that  portion  of  the 
Missouri  territory  included  within  the  boundaries  hereinafter 
designated,  be,  and  they  are  hereby,  authorized  to  form  for 
themselves  a  constitution  and  state  government,  and  to  assume 
such  name  as  they  shall  deem  proper;  and  the  said  state,  when 
formed,  shall  be  admitted  into  the  Union,  upon  an  equal  footing 
with  the  original  states,  in  all  respects  whatsoever. 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted.  That  the  said  state  shall  con 
sist  of  all  the  territory  included  within  the  following  boundaries, 
to  wit:  Beginning  in  the  middle  of  the  Mississippi  river,  on  the 
parallel  of  thirty-six  degrees  of  north  latitude ;  thence  west,  along 
that  parallel  of  latitude,  to  the  St.  Francois  river;  thence  up,  and 
following  the  course  of  that  river,  in  the  middle  of  the  main  chan 
nel  thereof,  to  the  parallel  of  latitude  of  thirty-six  degrees  and 
thirty  minutes ;  thence  west,  along  the  same,  to  a  point  where  the 
said  parallel  is  intersected  by  a  meridian  line  passing  through  the 
middle  of  the  mouth  of  the  Kansas  river,  where  the  same  empties 
into  the  Missouri  river,  thence,  from  the  point  aforesaid  north, 
along  the  said  meridian  line,  to  the  intersection  of  the  parallel  of 
latitude  which  passes  through  the  rapids  of  the  river  Des  Moines, 


316  MISSOURI   COMPROMISE  [July  19 

making  the  said  line  to  correspond  with  the  Indian  boundary  line ; 
thence  east,  from  the  point  of  intersection  last  aforesaid,  along 
the  said  parallel  of  latitude,  to  the  middle  of  the  channel  of  the 
main  fork  of  the  said  river  Des  Moines;  thence  down  and  along 
the  middle  of  the  main  channel  of  the  said  river  Des  Moines,  to 
the  mouth  of  the  same,  where  it  empties  into  the  Mississippi  river; 
thence,  due  east,  to  the  middle  of  the  main  channel  of  the  Missis 
sippi  river;  thence  down,  and  following  the  course  of  the  Mississippi 
river,  in  the  middle  of  the  main  channel  thereof,  to  the  place  of 
beginning:  .  .  . 

****  #**# 

SEC.  8.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  in  all  that  territory 
ceded  by  France  to  the  United  States,  under  the  name  of  Louisi 
ana,  which  lies  north  of  thirty-six  degrees  and  thirty  minutes 
north  latitude,  not  included  within  the  limits  of  the  state,  con 
templated  by  this  act,  slavery  and  involuntary  servitude,  otherwise 
than  in  the  punishment  of  crimes,  whereof  the  parties  shall  have 
been  duly  convicted,  shall  be,  and  is  hereby,  forever  prohibited: 
Provided  always,  That  any  person  escaping  into  the  same,  from 
whom  labour  or  service  is  lawfully  claimed,  in  any  state  or  territory 
of  the  United  States,  such  fugitive  may  be  lawfully  reclaimed  and 
conveyed  to  the  person  claiming  his  or  her  labour  or  service  as 
aforesaid. 

[U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  III.,  545,  546,  548.] 


No.  78.     Constitution  of  Missouri 

July  19,  1820 

[ART.  III.]     SEC.  26.     The  general  assembly  shall  not  have 
power  to  pass  laws  — 

1.  For  the  emancipation  of  slaves  without  the  consent  of  their 
owners ;  or  without  paying  them,  before  such  emancipation,  a  full 
equivalent  for  such  slaves  so  emancipated;   and, 

2.  To  prevent  bona-fide  immigrants  to  this  State,  or  actual  set 
tlers  therein,  from  bringing  from  any  of  the  United  States,  or  from 
any  of  their  Territories,  such  persons  as  may  there  be  deemed  to 


i820]  ADMISSION   OF  MISSOURI  317 

be  slaves,  so  long  as  any  persons  of  the  same  description  are 
allowed  to  be  held  as  slaves  by  the  laws  of  this  State. 
They  shall  have  power  to  pass  laws  — 

1.  To  prohibit  the  introduction  into  this  State  of  any  slaves 
who  may  have  committed  any  high  crime  in  any  other  State  or 
Territory ; 

2.  To  prohibit  the  introduction  of  any  slave  for  the  purpose  of 
speculation,  or  as  an  article  of  trade  or  merchandise ; 

3.  To  prohibit  the  introduction  of  any  slave,  or  the  offspring  of 
any  slave,  who  heretofore  may  have  been,  or  who  hereafter  may  be, 
imported  from  any  foreign  country  into  the  United  States,  or  any 
Territory  thereof,  in  contravention  of  any  existing  statute  of  the 
United  States;   and, 

4.  To  permit  the  owners  of  slaves  to  emancipate  them,  saving 
the  right  of  creditors,  where  the  person  so  emancipating  will  give 
security  that  the  slave  so  emancipated  shall  not  become  a  public 
charge. 

It  shall  be  their  duty,  as  soon  as  may  be,  to  pass  such  laws  as 
may  be  necessary  — 

1.  To  prevent  free  negroes  end  [and]  mulattoes  from  coming 
to  and  settling  in  this  State,  under  any  pretext  whatsoever ;   and, 

2.  To  oblige  the  owners  of  slaves  to  treat  them  with  humanity, 
and  to  abstain  from  all  injuries  to  them  extending  to  life  or  limb. 

[Poore,  Federal  and  State  Constitutions  (ed.  1877),  II.,  1107,  1108.] 


No.  79.     Resolution  for  the  Admission   of 
Missouri 

March  2,  1821 

Resolution  providing  for  the  admission  of  the  State  of  Missouri 

into  the  Union,  on  a  certain  condition. 

Resolved  .  .  .  ,  That  Missouri  shall  be  admitted  into  this  union 
on  an  equal  footing  with  the  original  states,  in  all  respects  what 
ever,  upon  the  fundamental  condition,  that  the  fourth  clause  of 
the  twenty-sixth  section  of  the  third  article  of  the  constitution 
submitted  on  the  part  of  said  state  to  Congress,  shall  never  be 
construed  to  authorize  the  passage  of  any  law,  and  that  no  law 


318  MONROE   DOCTRINE  [Dec.  2 

shall  be  passed  in  conformity  thereto,  by  which  any  citizen,  of 
either  of  the  states  in  this  Union,  shall  be  excluded  from  the 
enjoyment  of  any  of  the  privileges  and  immunities  to  which  such 
citizen  is  entitled  under  the  constitution  of  the  United  States: 
Provided,  That  the  legislature  of  the  said  state,  by  a  solemn  pub 
lic  act,  shall  declare  the  assent  of  the  said  state  to  the  said  fun 
damental  condition,  and  shall  transmit  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  on  or  before  the  fourth  Monday  in  November 
next,  an  authentic  copy  of  the  said  act ;  upon  the  receipt  whereof, 
the  President,  by  proclamation,  shall  announce  the  fact;  where 
upon,  and  without  any  further  proceeding  on  the  part  of  Congress, 
the  admission  of  the  said  state  into  this  Union  shall  be  considered 
as  complete. 

[U.S.  Stat.  at  Large,  III.,  645.] 


No.  80.     Monroe's  Message  enunciating  the 
Monroe  Doctrine 

December  2,  1823 

THE  triumph  of  Napoleon  in  Spain  in  1808  was  followed  by  a  succession 
of  revolts  in  the  Spanish  colonies  in  America,  and  by  1821  all  the  colonies 
had  established  revolutionary  governments.  In  1823  France,  with  the  sanc 
tion  of  the  so-called  Holy  Alliance,  had  restored  Ferdinand  VII.  of  Spain  to 
his  throne ;  and  later  in  the  year  another  meeting  of  the  allies  was  suggested 
to  consider  the  question  of  aiding  Spain  to  reduce  its  colonies  to  submission. 
In  the  meantime,  in  September,  1821,  a  Russian  ukase  had  asserted  the  claim 
of  that  country  to  all  the  Pacific  coast  of  North  America  north  of  the  5ist 
parallel,  and  forbidden  foreigners  to  trade  in  the  region.  The  claim  of  Rus 
sia  was  opposed  by  both  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States.  A  proposal 
from  Great  Britain,  in  September,  1823,  "that  the  two  countries  should 
unite  in  a  declaration  against  European  intervention  in  the  colonies,"  was, 
however,  declined.  In  his  annual  message  of  Dec.  2,  1823,  Monroe,  in  dis 
cussing  the  relations  of  the  United  States  with  Russia,  Spain,  and  the  Spanish- 
American  colonies,  stated  the  policy  which  afterwards  came  to  be  known  as 
the  MonrOe  doctrine.  The  principal  portions  of  the  message  dealing  with 
the  subject  are  given  in  the  extracts  following. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  of  the  message  in  House  and  Senate  Journals,  i8th 
Cong.,  ist  Sess.;  the  extracts  here  given  are  from  the  Senate  Journal,  n, 
21-23.  On  the  origin  of  the  statements  in  the  message,  see.  J.  Q.  Adams's 
Memoirs,  VI.;  Madison's  Writings  (ed.  1865),  III.,  339,  340;  Jefferson's 
Works  (ed.  1854),  VII.,  315-317.  Correspondence  relating  to  the  Russian 


1823]  MONROE   DOCTRINE  319 

treaty  of  1824  is  in  Amer.  State  Papers,  Foreign  Relations,  V.,  434-471;  the 
correspondence  with  Spain,  ib.,  V.,  368-428,  throws  light  on  the  condition  of 
the  colonies.  The  policy  stated  by  Monroe  had  been  frequently  enunciated, 
though  less  definitely,  before  1823;  interesting  extracts,  from  1787  onwards, 
are  collected  in  Amer.  History  Leaflets,  No.  4.  The  leading  discussions  of 
the  Monroe  doctrine  are  Gilman's  Monroe,  chap.  7  (with  valuable  bibliog 
raphy,  Appendix  IV.);  G.  F.  Tucker's  Monroe  Doctrine;  Wharton's  Intern. 
Law  Digest  (ed.  1887),  I.,  268-298;  Snow's  American  Diplomacy,  237—294. 

At  the  proposal  of  the  Russian  imperial  government,  made 
through  the  minister  of  the  Emperor  residing  here,  a  full  power  and 
instructions  have  been  transmitted  to  the  Minister  of  the  United 
States  at  St.  Petersburgh,  to  arrange,  by  amicable  negotiation,  the 
respective  rights  and  interests  of  the  two  nations  on  the  northwest 
coast  of  this  continent.  A  similar  proposal  had  been  made  by  his 
Imperial  Majesty  to  the  government  of  Great  Britain,  which  has 
likewise  been  acceded  to.  ...  In  the  discussions  to  which  this 
interest  has  given  rise,  and  in  the  arrangements  by  which  they  may 
terminate,  the  occasion  has  been  judged  proper  for  asserting,  as  a 
principle  in  which  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  United  States  are 
involved,  that  the  American  continents,  by  the  free  and  indepen 
dent  condition  which  they  have  assumed  and  maintain,  are  hence 
forth  not  to  be  considered  as  subjects  for  future  colonization  by 
any  European  powers. 

******** 

It  was  stated  at  the  commencement  of  the  last  session,  that  a 
great  effort  was  then  making  in  Spain  and  Portugal,  to  improve 
the  condition  of  the  people  of  those  countries,  and  that  it  ap 
peared  to  be  conducted  with  extraordinary  moderation.  It  need 
scarcely  be  remarked,  that  the  result  has  been,  so  far,  very  differ 
ent  from  what  was  then  anticipated.  Of  events  in  that  quarter 
of  the  globe,  with  which  we  have  so  much  intercourse,  and  from 
which  we  derive  our  origin,  we  have  always  been  anxious  and  in 
terested  spectators.  The  citizens  of  the  United  States  cherish 
sentiments  the  most  friendly,  in  favor  of  the  liberty  and  happiness 
of  their  fellow  men  on  that  side  of  the  Atlantic.  In  the  wars  of 
the  European  powers,  in  matters  relating  to  themselves,  we  have 
never  taken  any  part,  nor  does  it  comport  with  our  policy  so  to 
do.  It  is  only  when  our  rights  are  invaded,  or  seriously  menaced, 
that  we  resent  injuries,  or  make  preparation  for  our  defence. 
With  the  movements  in  this  hemisphere,  we  are,  of  necessity, 


320  JACKSON'S   FIRST   MESSAGE  [Dec.  8 

more  immediately  connected,  and  by  causes  which  must  be  obvi 
ous  to  all  enlightened  and  impartial  observers.  The  political  sys 
tem  of  the  allied  powers  is  essentially  different,  in  this  respect, 
from  that  of  America.  This  difference  proceeds  from  that  which 
exists  in  their  respective  governments.  And  to  the  defence  of 
our  own,  which  has  been  achieved  by  the  loss  of  so  much  blood 
and  treasure,  and  matured  by  the  wisdom  of  their  most  enlightened 
citizens,  and  under  which  we  have  enjoyed  unexampled  felicity, 
this  whole  nation  is  devoted.  We  owe  it,  therefore,  to  candor, 
and  to  the  amicable  relations  existing  between  the  United  States 
and  those  powers,  to  declare,  that  we  should  consider  any  attempt 
on  their  part  to  extend  their  system  to  any  portion  of  this  hemi 
sphere,  as  dangerous  to  our  peace  and  safety.  With  the  existing 
colonies  or  dependencies  of  any  European  power,  we  have  not 
interfered,  and  shall  not  interfere.  But  with  the  governments 
who  have  declared  their  independence,  and  maintained  it,  and 
whose  independence  we  have,  on  great  consideration,  and  on  just 
principles,  acknowledged,  we  could  not  view  any  interposition  for 
the  purpose  of  oppressing  them,  or  controlling,  in  any  other  man 
ner,  their  destiny,  by  any  European  power,  in  any  other  light  than 
as  the  manifestation  of  an  unfriendly  disposition  towards  the 
United  States.  . 


No.  8 1.     The  Bank  Controversy:    Jackson's 
First  Annual  Message 

December  8,  1829 

THE  charter  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  did  not  expire  until  1836, 
three  years  after  the  close  of  the  term  for  which  Jackson  had  been  elected ;  it 
was  probable,  however,  that  the  bank  would  make  early  application  for  a 
renewal  of  its  privileges.  Jackson  undoubtedly  sympathized  with  those  who 
feared  the  political  and  economic  power  of  a  great  financial  monopoly;  the 
controversy  involving  the  branch  bank  at  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  however,  was 
probably  the  occasion  for  beginning  his  attack  on  the  bank,  which  he  did  in 
his  first  annual  message,  transmitted  to  Congress  Dec.  8,  1829.  In  the  House 
this  portion  of  the  message  was  referred  to  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means, 
which  made  an  elaborate  report  April  13,  1830,  through  McDume  of  South 
Carolina,  sustaining  the  bank.  May  10  resolutions  offered  by  Potter  of  North 


JACKSON'S    FIRST   MESSAGE  321 

Carolina,  against  paper  money  and  the  bank,  and  against  the  renewal  of  the 
charter,  were,  by  a  vote  of  89  to  66,  laid  on  the  table.  May  26  Wayne  of 
Georgia  submitted  resolutions  calling  on  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  for  a 
great  variety  of  information  about  the  conduct  and  business  of  the  bank;  on 
the  zgth  these  were  disagreed  to.  In  the  Senate  the  Committee  on  Finance, 
through  Smith  of  Maryland,  reported,  March  29,  against  any  change  in  the 
currency. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  of  the  message  in  House  and  Senate  Journals,  2ist 
Cong.,  ist  Sess.;  .the  extract  here  given  is  from  the  House  Journal,  27,  28. 
For  the  discussions,  see  Cong.  Debates,  VI.  McDume's  report  is  printed  as 
House  Rep.  358;  it  is  also  in  Cong.  Debates,  VI.,  part  II.,  appendix,  104-133. 
Smith's  report  is  Senate  Rep.  104.  Documents  connected  with  the  Portsmouth 
branch  controversy  are  collected  in  Niles's  Register,  XXXVII.,  XXXVIII.; 
Ingham's  "Address,"  in  his  own  defence,  is  in  ib.,  XLIL,  315,  316.  The 
bank  controversy  as  a  whole  is  treated  at  length  in  all  larger  histories  of  the 
period,  and  in  biographies  of  leading  statesmen  of  the  time.  Niles's  Register, 
XXXVII.-XLV.,  gives  invaluable  documentary  material.  Benton's  Abridg 
ment,  X.-XIL,  gives  full  reports  of  debates;  the  same  author's  Thirty  Years' 
View,  I.,  is  also  of  great  value. 

The  charter  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  expires  in  1836, 
and  its  stockholders  will  most  probably  apply  for  a  renewal  of  their 
privileges.  In  order  to  avoid  the  evils  resulting  from  precipitancy 
in  a  measure  involving  such  important  principles,  and  such  deep 
pecuniary  interests,  I  feel  that  I  cannot,  in  justice  to  the  parties 
interested,  too  soon  present  it  to  the  deliberate  consideration  of 
the  Legislature  and  the  People.  Both  the  constitutionality  and 
the  expediency  of  the  law  creating  this  Bank  are  well  questioned 
by  a  large  portion  of  our  fellow-citizens ;  and  it  must  be  admitted 
by  all,  that  it  has  failed  in  the  great  end  of  establishing  a  uniform 
and  sound  currency. 

Under  these  circumstances,  if  such  an  institution  is  deemed 
essential  to  the  fiscal  operations  of  the  Government,  I  submit  to 
the  wisdom  of  the  Legislature  whether  a  national  one,  founded 
upon  the  credit  of  the  Government  and  its  revenues,  might  not  be 
devised,  which  would  avoid  all  constitutional  difficulties;  and,  at 
the  same  time,  secure  all  the  advantages  to  the  Government  and 
country  that'  were  expected  to  result  from  the  present  Bank. 


322  JACKSON'S   SECOND   MESSAGE  FDec.  7 

No.  82.     The  Bank  Controversy:  Jackson's 
Second  Annual   Message 

December  7,  1830 

LITTLE  attention  was  paid  by  Congress  to  so  much  of  Jackson's  second 
annual  message  as  related  to  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.'  December  9,  in 
the  House,  an  attempt  by  Wayne  of  Georgia  to  have  that  portion  of  the  mes 
sage  referred  to  a  select  committee,  instead  of  to  the  Committee  of  Ways  and 
Means,  was  unsuccessful,  the  vote  being  67  to  108.  February  2,  1831,  the 
Senate,  1  7  a  vote  of  20  to  23,  rejected  Benton's  motion  for  leave  to  bring  in  a 
joint  resolution  declaring  that  the  charter  ought  not  to  be  renewed.  The 
result  in  each  of  these  cases  was  a  victory  for  the  bank. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  of  the  message  in  House  and  Senate  Journals,  2ist 
Cong.,  2d  Sess.;  the  extract  here  given  is  from  the  Senate  Journal,  30,  31. 
For  the  discussions,  see  Cong.  Debates,  or  Benton's  Abridgment,  XL 

The  importance  of  the  principles  involved  in  the  inquiry, 
whether  it  will  be  proper  to  recharter  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  requires  that  I  should  again  call  the  attention  of  Congress 
to  the  subject.  Nothing  has  occurred  to  lessen,  in  any  degree, 
the  dangers  which  many  of  our  citizens  apprehend  from  that 
institution,  as  at  present  organized.  In  the  spirit  of  improvement 
and  compromise  which  distinguishes  our  country  and  its  institu 
tions,  it  becomes  us  to  inquire,  whether  it  be  not  possible  to  secure 
the  advantages  afforded  by  the  present  bank,  through  the  agency 
of  a  Bank  of  the  United  States,  so  modified  in  its  principles  and 
structure  as  to  obviate  constitutional  and  other  objections. 

It  is  thought  practicable  to  organize  such  a  bank,  with  the 
necessary  officers,  as  a  branch  of  the  Treasury  Department,  based 
on  the  public  and  individual  deposites,  without  power  to  make 
loans  or  purchase  property,  which  shall  remit  the  funds  of  the 
Government,  and  the  expense  of  which  may  be  paid,  if  thought 
advisable,  by  allowing  its  officers  to  sell  bills  of  exchange  to  private 
individuals  at  a  moderate  premium.  Not  being  a  corporate  body, 
having  no  stockholders,  debtors,  or  property,  and  but  few  officers, 
it  would  not  be  obnoxious  to  the  constitutional  objections  which 
are  urged  against  the  present  bank;  and  having  no  means  to 
operate  on  the  hopes,  fears,  or  interests,  of  large  masses  of  the 
community,  it  would  be  shorn  of  the  influence  which  makes  that 


1830]  JACKSON'S   THIRD   MESSAGE  323 

bank  formidable.  The  States  would  be  strengthened  by  having 
in  their  hands  the  means  of  furnishing  the  local  paper  currency 
through  their  own  banks;  while  the  Bank  of  the  United  States, 
though  issuing  no  paper,  would  check  the  issues  of  the  State  banks 
by  taking  their  notes  in  deposite,  and  for  exchange,  only  so  long 
as  they  continue  to  be  redeemed  with  specie.  In  times  of  public 
emergency,  the  capacities  of  such  an  institution  might  be  enlarged 
by  legislative  provisions. 

These  suggestions  are  made,  not  so  much  as  a  recommendation, 
as  with  a  view  of  calling  the  attention  of  Congress  to  the  possible 
modifications  of  a  system  which  can  not  continue  to  exist  in  its 
present  form  without  occasional  collisions  with  the  local  authorities, 
and  perpetual  apprehensions  and  discontent  on  the  part  of  the 
States  and  the  people. 


No.  83.     The  Bank  Controversy:   Jackson's 
Third  Annual  Message 

December  6,  1831 

THE  apparent  disposition  of  Jackson,  as  indicated  by  his  third  annual  mes 
sage,  to  drop  the  subject  of  the  bank  was  further  emphasized  by  the  annual 
report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  submitted  Dec.  7,  in  which  the  cause 
of  the  bank  was  advocated  at  length. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  of  the  message  in  House  and  Senate  Journals,  226. 
Cong.,  ist  Sess.;  the  extract  here  given  is  from  the  Senate  Journal,  17.  For 
McLane's  report,  see  House  Exec.  Doc.  3. 

Entertairfing  the  opinions  heretofore  expressed  in  relation  to  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States  as  at  present  organized,  I  felt  it  my 
duty,  in  my  former  messages  frankly  to  disclose  them,  in  order 
that  the  attention  of  the  legislature  and  the  people  should  be 
seasonably  directed  to  that  important  subject,  and  that  it  might  be 
considered  and  finally  disposed  of  in  a  manner  best  calculated  to 
promote  the  ends  of  the  Constitution  and  subserve  the  public 
interests.  Having  thus  conscientiously  discharged  a  constitutional 
duty,  I  deem  it  proper,  on  this  occasion,  without  a  more  particular 
reference  to  the  views  of  the  subject  there  expressed,  to  leave  it  for 
the  present  to  the  investigation  of  an  enlightened  people  and  their 
representatives. 


324  JACKSON'S   BANK  VETO  [July  10 


No.  84.     Jackson's  Bank  Veto 

July  10,  1832 

THE  application  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  for  a  renewal  of  its 
charter  was  presented  to  Congress  Jan.  9,  1832.  In  the  Senate  the  memorial 
was  referred  to  a  select  committee.  March  13  Dallas  of  Pennsylvania,  for 
the  committee,  reported  a  bill  for  a  recharter  of  the  bank ;  the  bill  was  read 
a  second  time  May  22,  and  debated  until  June  n,  when  it  passed  by  a  vote 
of  28  to  20.  In  the  House  the  petition  for  a  recharter  had  been  referred  to 
the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means,  which  reported  Feb.  10,  by  McDufne  of 
South  Carolina,  a  bill  to  renew  and  modify  the  charter.  On  the  23d  Clayton 
of  Georgia  moved  the  appointment  of  a  select  committee  to  examine  the  affairs 
of  the  bank.  The  motion  was  debated  until  March  14,  when,  with  an  amend 
ment  offered  by  J.  Q.  Adams,  it  was  agreed  to.  A  majority  report,  to  the 
effect  "that  the  bank  ought  not  to  be  rechartered  until  the  debt  was  all  paid 
and  the  revenue  readjusted,"  was  made  by  Clayton  April  30 ;  minority  reports, 
defending  the  bank,  were  presented  by  McDuffie  and  Adams  May  n  and  14. 
The  Senate  bill  was  not  taken  up  for  discussion  in  the  House  until  June  30; 
July  3  it  was  passed  with  amendments,  under  suspension  of  the  rules,  by  a 
vote  of  107  to  86.  The  Senate  concurred  in  the  House  amendments,  and 
the  bill  went  to  the  President,  who  returned  it  July  10  without  his  approval. 
In  the  Senate,  July  13,  the  vote  on  the  repassage  of  the  bill  stood  22  to  19, 
less  than  the  required  two-thirds;  so  the  bill  failed.  Only  the  most  important 
portions  of  the  veto  message,  which  is  very  long,  are  here  given. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Senate  Journal,  22d  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  433-446; 
the  message  is  also  printed  as  Senate  Doc.  180,  and  House  Exec.  Doc.  300. 
Full  reports  of  the  discussions  are  in  the  Cong.  Debates,  and  Benton's  Abridg 
ment,  XI.  The  text  of  the  bank  bill  is  in  the  Senate  Journal,  45I-/53.  For 
Clayton's  report,  see  House  Rep.  460;  the  document  includes  the  minority 
reports,  evidence,  and  papers  relating  to  the  Portsmouth  controversy.  Web 
ster's  speeches  of  May  25  and  28,  on  the  bill,  are  in  his  Works  (ed.  1857), 
III.,  391-415;  speech  of  July  u,  on  the  veto,  ib.,  III.,  416-447.  Clay's 
speech  of  July  12,  on  the  veto,  is  in  his  Life  and  Speeches  (ed.  1844), 
II.,  94-105.  Numerous  reports  and  memorials  relating  to  the  bank  will  be 
found  in  the  House  and  Senate  documents  of  this  session. 

...  I  sincerely  regret,  that,  in  the  act  before  me,  I  can  per* 
ceive  none  of  those  modifications  of  the  bank  charter  which  are 
necessary,  in  my  opinion,  to  make  it  compatible  with  justice,  with 
sound  policy,  or  with  the  constitution  of  our  country.  .  .  . 

Every  monopoly,  and  all  exclusive  privileges,  are  granted  at  the 
expense  of  the  public,  which  ought  to  receive  a  fair  equivalent. 
The  many  millions  \vhich  this  act  proposes  to  bestow  on  the 


1832]  JACKSON'S   BANK   VETO  325 

stockholders  of  the  existing  bank,  must  come  directly  or  indirectly 
out  of  the  earnings  of  the  American  people.  It  is  due  to  them, 
therefore,  if  their  Government  sell  monopolies  and  exclusive 
privileges,  that  they  should  at  least  exact  for  them  as  much  as 
they  are  worth  in  open  market.  The  value  of  the  monopoly 
in  this  case  may  be  correctly  ascertained.  The  twenty-eight  mil 
lions  of  stock  would  probably  be  at  an  advance  of  fifty  per  cent., 
and  command  in  market  at  least  forty-two  millions  of  dollars, 
subject  to  the  payment  of  the  present  bonus.  The  present  value 
of  the  monopoly,  therefore,  is  seventeen  millions  of  dollars,  and 
this  the  act  proposes  to  sell  for  three  millions,  payable  in  fifteen 
annual  instalments  of  $200,000  each.  .  .  -. 

It  has  been  urged  as  an  argument  in  favor  of  rechartering  the 
present  bank,  that  the  calling  in  its  loans  will  produce  great 
embarrassment  and  distress.  The  time  allowed  to  close  its  con 
cerns  is  ample;  and  if  it  has  been  well  managed,  its  pressure  will 
be  light,  and  heavy  only  in  case  its  management  has  been  bad. 
If,  therefore,  it  shall  produce  distress,  the  fault  will  be  its  own; 
and  it  would  furnish  a  reason  against  renewing  a  power  which  has 
been  so  obviously  abused.  But  will  there  ever  be  a  time  when 
this  reason  will  be  less  powerful  ?  To  acknowledge  its  force,  is  to 
admit  that  the  bank  ought  to  be  perpetual ;  and,  as  a  consequence, 
the  present  stockholders,  and  those  inheriting  their  rights  as  suc 
cessors,  bs  established  a  privileged  order,  clothed  both  with  great 
political  power,  and  enjoying  immense  pecuniary  advantages,  from 
their  connection  with  the  Government. 

The  modifications  of  the  existing  charter,  proposed  by  this  act, 
are  not  such,  in  my  view,  as  make  it  consistent  with  the  rights  of 
the  States  or  the  liberties  of  the  people.  The  qualification  of  the 
right  of  the  bank  to  hold  real  estate,  the  limitation  of  its  power  to 
establish  branches,  and  the  power  reserved  to  Congress  to  forbid 
the  circulation  of  small  notes,  are  restrictions  comparatively  of 
little  value  or  importance.  All  the  objectionable  principles  of  the 
existing  corporation,  and  most  of  its  odious  features,  are  retained 
without  alleviation.  .  .  . 

Is  there  no  danger  to  our  liberty  and  independence  in  a  bank, 
that,  in  its  nature,  has  so  little  to  bind  it  to  our  country?  The 
President  of  the  bank  has  told  us  that  most  of  the  State  banks 
exist  by  its  forbearance.  Should  its  influence  become  concentred, 


326  JACKSON'S   BANK   VETO  [July  10 

as  it  may  under  the  operation  of  such  an  act  as  this,  in  the  hands 
of  a  self -elected  directory,  whose  interests  are  identified  with  those 
of  the  foreign  stockholder,  will  there  not  be  cause  to  tremble  for 
the  purity  of  our  elections  in  peace,  and  for  the  independence  oi 
our  country  in  war  ?  Their  power  would  be  great  whenever  they 
might  choose  to  exert  it;  but  if  this  monopoly  were  regularly 
renewed  every  fifteen  or  twenty  years,  on  terms  proposed  by 
themselves,  they  might  seldom  in  peace  put  forth  their  strength 
to  influence  elections,  or  control  the  affairs  of  the  nation. 
But  if  any  private  citizen  or  public  functionary  should  inter 
pose  to  curtail  its  powers,  or  prevent  a  renewal  of  its  privileges, 
it  cannot  be  doubted  that  he  would  be  made  to  feel  its  influence. 

Should  the  stock  of  the  bank  principally  pass  into  the  hands  of 
the  subjects  of  a  foreign  country,  and  we  should  unfortunately 
become  involved  in  a  war  with  that  country,  what  would  be  our 
condition?  Of  the  course  which  would  be  pursued  by  a  bank 
almost  wholly  owned  by  the  subjects  of  a  foreign  power,  and 
managed  by  those  whose  interests,  if  not  affections,  would  run  in 
the  same  direction,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  All  its  operations 
within,  would  be  in  aid  of  the  hostile  fleets  and  armies  without. 
Controlling  our  currency,  receiving  our  public  moneys,  and  hold 
ing  thousands  of  our  citizens  in  independance,  it  would  be  more 
formidable  and  dangerous  than  the  naval  and  military  power  of 
the  enemy. 

If  we  must  have  a  bank  with  private  stockholders,  every  consid 
eration  of  sound  policy,  and  every  impulse  of  American  feeling, 
admonishes  that  it  should  be  purely  American.  .  .  . 

It  is  maintained  by  the  advocates  of  the  bank  that  its  constitu 
tionality  in  all  its  features  ought  to  be  considered  as  settled  by 
precedent,  and  by  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court.  To  this 
conclusion  I  cannot  assent.  Mere  precedent  is  a  dangerous  source 
of  authority,  and  should  not  be  regarded  as  deciding  questions  of 
constitutional  power,  except  where  the  acquiescence  of  the  people 
and  the  States  can  be  considered  as  well  settled.  So  far  from  this 
being  the  case  on  this  subject,  an  argument  against  the  bank 
mighi  be  based  on  precedent.  One  Congress,  in  1791,  decided 
in  favor  of  a  bank;  another,  in  1811,  decided  against  it.  One 
Congress,  in  1815,  decided  against  a  bank;  another,  in  1816, 
decided  in  its  favor.  Prior  to  the  present  Congress,  therefore, 


1832]  JACKSON'S   BANK  VETO  327 

the  precedents  drawn  from  that  source  were  equal.  If  we  resort 
to  the  States,  the  expressions  of  legislative,  judicial,  and  executive 
opinions  against  the  bank,  have  been,  probably,  to  those  in  its 
favor,  as  four  to  one.  There  is  nothing  in  precedent,  therefore, 
which,  if  its  authority  were  admitted,  ought  to  weigh  in  favor  of 
the  act  before  me. 

If  the  opinion  of  the  Supreme  Court  covered  the  whole  ground 
of  this  act,  it  ought  not  to  control  the  co-ordinate  authorities  of 
this  Government.  The  Congress,  the  Executive,  and  the  Court, 
must  each  for  itself  be  guided  by  its  own  opinion  of  the  constitu 
tion.  Each  public  officer,  who  takes  an  oath  to  support  the 
constitution,  swears  that  he  will  support  it  as  he  understands  it, 
and  not  as  it  is  understood  by  others.  It  is  as  much  the  duty  of 
the  House  of  Representatives,  of  the  Senate,  and  of  the  President, 
to  decide  upon  the  constitutionality  of  any  bill  or  resolution  which 
may  be  presented  to  them  for  passage  or  approval,  as  it  is  of  the 
Supreme  Judges  when  it  may  be  brought  before  them  for  judicial 
decision.  The  opinion  of  the  judges  has  no  more  authority  over 
Congress,  than  the  opinion  of  Congress  has  over  the  judges ;  and 
on  that  point,  the  President  is  independent  of  both.  The  author 
ity  of  the  Supreme  Court  must  not,  therefore,  be  permitted  to 
control  the  Congress  or  the  Executive  when  acting  in  their  legis 
lative  capacities,  but  to  have  only  such  influence  as  the  force  of 
their  reasoning  may  deserve. 

But,  in  the  case  relied  upon,  the  Supreme  Court  have  not 
decided  that  all  the  features  of  this  corporation  are  compatible 
with  the  constitution.  It  is  true  that  the  court  have  said  that  the 
law  incorporating  the  bank  is  a  constitutional  exercise  of  power  by 
Congress.  But,  taking  into  view  the  whole  opinion  of  the  court, 
and  the  reasoning  by  which  they  have  come  to  that  conclusion, 
I  understand  them  to  have  decided  that,  inasmuch  as  a  bank  is 
an  appropriate  means  for  carrying  into  effect  the  enumerated 
powers  of  the  General  Government,  therefore  the  law  incorpo 
rating  it  is  in  accordance  with  that  provision  of  the  constitution 
which  declares  that  Congress  shall  have  power  "to  make  all  laws 
which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for  carrying  those  powers 
into  execution."  Having  satisfied  themselves  that  the  word 
"necessary"  in  the  constitution,  means  "needful"  "requisite" 
''essential,"  "conducive  to,"  and  that  "a  bank"  is  a  convenient, 


328  JACKSON'S   BANK   VETO  [July  14 

a  useful,  and  essential  instrument,  in  the  prosecution  of  the 
Government's  "fiscal  operations,"  they  conclude,  that  to  "use 
one  must  be  within  the  discretion  of  Congress,"  and  that  "the 
act  to  incorporate  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  is  a  law  made  in 
pursuance  of  the  constitution":  "but,"  say  they,  "where  the  law 
is  not  prohibited,  and  is  really  calculated  to  effect  any  of  the  objects 
entrusted  to  the  Government,  to  undertake  here  to  inquire  into  the 
degree  of  its  necessity,  would  be  to  pass  the  line  which  circumscribes 
the  'judicial  department,  and  to  tread  on  legislative  ground" 

The  principle  here  affirmed  is,  that  the  "degree  of  its  neces 
sity,"  involving  all  the  details  of  a  banking  institution,  is  a  question 
exclusively  for  legislative  consideration.  A  bank  is  constitutional ; 
but  it  is  the  province  of  the  Legislature  to  determine  whether  this 
or  that  particular  power,  privilege,  or  exemption,  is  "necessary 
and  proper"  to  enable  the  bank  to  discharge  its  duties  to  the 
Government;  and,  from  their  decision,  there  is  no  appeal  to  the 
courts  of  justice.  .  .  . 

That  a  Bank  of  the  United  States,  competent  to  all  the  duties 
which  may  be  required  by  the  Government,  might  be  so  organ 
ized  as  not  to  infringe  on  our  own  delegated  powers,  or  the 
reserved  rights  of  the  States,  I  do  not  entertain  a  doubt. 
Had  the  Executive  been  called  upon  to  furnish  the  project 
of  such  an  institution,  the  duty  would  have  been  cheerfully 
performed.  In  the  absence  of  such  a  call,  it  is  obviously  proper 
that  he  should  confine  himself  to  pointing  out  those  prominent 
features  in  the  act  presented,  wThich,  in  his  opinion,  make  it  in 
compatible  with  the  constitution  and  sound  policy.  A  general 
discussion  will  now  take  place,  eliciting  new  light,  and  settling 
important  principles;  and  a  new  Congress,  elected  in  the  midst 
of  such  discussion,  and  furnishing  an  equal  representation  of  the 
people  according  to  the  last  census,  will  bear  to  the  Capitol  the 
verdict  of  public  opinion,  and,  I  doubt  not,  bring  this  important 
question  to  a  satisfactory  result.  .  .  . 

Suspicions  are  entertained,  and  charges  are  made,  of  gross 
abuse  and  violation  of  its  charter.  An  investigation  unwillingly 
conceded,  and  so  restricted  in  time  as  necessarily  to  make  it 
incomplete  and  unsatisfactory,  discloses  enough  to  excite  suspicion 
and  alarm.  ...  As  the  charter  had  yet  four  years  to  run,  and 
as  a  renewal  now  was  not  necessary  to  the  successful  prosecution 


1832]  ORDINANCE   OF   NULLIFICATION  329 

of  its  business,  it  was  to  have  been  expected  that  the  bank  itself, 
conscious  of  its  purity,  and  proud  of  its  character,  would  have 
withdrawn  its  application  for  the  present,  and  demanded  the 
severest  scrutiny  into  all  its  transactions.  In  their  declining  to 
do  so,  there  seems  to  be  an  additional  reason  why  the  function 
aries  of  the  Government  should  proceed  with  less  haste,  and  more 
caution,  in  the  renewal  of  their  monopoly. 

The  bank  is  professedly  established  as  an  agent  of  the  Execu 
tive  branches  of  the  Government,  and  its  constitutionality  is 
maintained  on  that  ground.  Neither  upon  the  propriety  of 
present  action,  nor  upon  the  provisions  of  this  act,  was  the 
Executive  consulted.  It  has  had  no  opportunity  to  say  that  it 
neither  needs  nor  wants  an  agent  clothed  with  such  powers,  and 
favored  by  such  exemptions.  There  is  nothing  in  its  legitimate 
functions  which  make  it  necessary  or  proper.  Whatever  interest 
or  influence,  whether  public  or  private,  has  given  birth  to  this  act, 
it  cannot  be  found  either  in  the  wishes  or  necessities  of  the  Ex 
ecutive  Department,  by  which  present  action  is  deemed  premature, 
and  the  powers  conferred  upon  its  agent  not  only  unnecessary, 
but  dangerous  to  the  Government  and  country.  .  .  . 


No.  85.     South  Carolina  Ordinance  of  Nulli 
fication 

November  24,  1832 

THE  tariff  act  of  1828,  popularly  styled  the  "tariff  of  abominations," 
called  out  vigorous  protests  from  the  legislatures  of  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia.  The  tariff  act  of  July  14,  1832,  while  doing  away  with  some  of  the 
most  objectionable  features  of  the  act  of  1828,  showed  no  signs  of  an  abandon 
ment  of  the  protective  policy.  The  South  Carolina  election  of  1832,  accord 
ingly,  turned  on  the  question  of  calling  a  convention  to  nullify  the  tariff  laws. 
The  legislature  met  in  extra  session  Oct.  22;  on  the  26th,  in  accordance  with 
the  suggestion  of  Governor  Hamilton  in  his  message,  a  bill  for  calling  a  con 
vention  was  passed.  The  convention  met  Nov.  19.  Of  the  162  delegates 
present,  136  favored  nullification.  November  24,  by  a  vote  of  136  to  26, 
the  Ordinance  of  Nullification  was  adopted.  Addresses  to  the  people  of  the 
United  States  and  of  South  Carolina  were  also  issued.  The  legislature  met 
in  regular  session  Nov.  27,  and  promptly  passed  a  series  of  laws  to  give  effect 
to  the  ordinance. 


330  ORDINANCE   OF  NULLIFICATION  [Nov.  24 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Senate  Doc.  30,  22d  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  pp.  36-39; 
the  document  contains  also  the  report  of  the  committee  of  21  to  the  conven 
tion,  addresses  to  the  people  of  South  Carolina  and  of  the  United  States,  mes 
sage  of  Governor  Hamilton  to  the  legislature,  inaugural  address  of  Governor 
Hayne,  and  the  three  acts.  The  proceedings  of  the  convention  are  in  State 
Papers  on  Nullification  (Mass.  Gen.  Court,  Misc.  Doc.,  1834).  Numerous 
documents  are  collected  in  Niles's  Register,  XLIII.  Houston's  Critical 
Study  of  Nullification  in  South  Carolina  is  of  prime  importance;  see  especially, 
on  the  ordinance,  pp.  106-115.  The  protests  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia 
against  the  tariff  of  1828  are  in  MacDonald's  Select  Documents,  Nos.  44 
and  45. 

An  Ordinance  to  Nullify  certain  acts  of  the  Congress  of  the  United 

States,  purporting  to  be  laws  laying  duties  and  imposts  on  the 

importation  of  foreign  commodities. 

Whereas  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  by  various  acts,  pur 
porting  to  be  acts  laying  duties  and  imposts  on  foreign  imports, 
but  in  reality  intended  for  the  protection  of  domestic  manufac 
tures,  and  the  giving  of  bounties  to  classes  and  individuals  en 
gaged  in  particular  employments,  at  the  expense  and  to  the  injury 
and  oppression  of  other  classes  and  individuals,  and  by  wholly 
exempting  from  taxation  certain  foreign  commodities,  such  as  are 
not  produced  or  manufactured  in  the  United  States,  to  afford  a 
pretext  for  imposing  higher  and  excessive  duties  on  articles  simi 
lar  to  those  intended  to  be  protected,  hath  exceeded  its  just 
powers  under  the  Constitution,  which  confers  on  it  no  authority  to 
afford  such  protection,  and  hath  violated  the  true  meaning  and 
intent  of  the  Constitution,  which  provides  for  equality  in  imposing 
the  burthens  of  taxation  upon  the  several  States  and  portions  of 
the  confederacy;  And  whereas  the  said  Congress,  exceeding  its 
just  power  to  impose  taxes  and  collect  revenue  for  the  purpose  of 
effecting  and  accomplishing  the  specific  objects  and  purposes 
which  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  authorizes  it  to  effect 
and  accomplish,  hath  raised  and  collected  unnecessary  revenue 
for  objects  unauthorized  by  the  Constitution : 

We,  therefore,  the  people  of  the  State  of  South  Carolina  in  Con 
vention  assembled,  do  declare  and  ordain,  and  it  is  hereby  declared 
and  ordained,  that  the  several  acts  and  parts  of  acts  of  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States,  purporting  to  be  laws  for  the  imposing  of 
duties  and  imposts  on  the  importation  of  foreign  commodities,  and 
now  having  actual  operation  and  effect  within  the  United  States, 


1832]  ORDINANCE   OF   NULLIFICATION  331 

and,  more  especially,  .  .  .  [the  tariff  acts  of  1828  and  1832]  .  . -,.-,. 
are  unauthorized  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and 
violate  the  true  meaning  and  intent  thereof,  and  are  null,  void, 
and  no  law,  nor  binding  upon  this  State,  its  officers  or  citizens; 
and  all  promises,  contracts,  and  obligations,  made  or  entered  into, 
or  to  be  made  or  entered  into,  with  purpose  to  secure  the  duties 
imposed  by  the  said  acts,  and  all  judicial  proceedings  which  shall 
be  hereafter  had  in  affirmance  thereof,  are  and  shall  be  held 
utterly  null  and  void. 

And  it  is  further  ordained,  that  it  shall  not  be  lawful  for  any  of 
the  constituted  authorities,  whether  of  this  State  or  of  the  United 
States,  to  enforce  the  payment  of  duties  imposed  by  the  said 
acts  within  the  limits  of  this  State;  but  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the 
Legislature  to  adopt  such  measures  and  pass  such  acts  as  may  be 
necessary  to  give  full  effect  to  this  ordinance,  and  to  prevent  the 
enforcement  and  arrest  the  operation  of  the  said  aces  and  parts  of 
acts  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  within  the  limits  of  this 
State,  from  and  after  the  ist  day  of  February  next,  and  the  duty 
of  all  other  constituted  authorities,  and  of  all  persons  residing  or 
being  within  the  limits  of  this  State,  and  they  are  hereby  required 
and  enjoined,  to  obey  and  give  effect  to  this  ordinance,  and  such 
acts  and  measures  of  the  Legislature  as  may  be  passed  or  adopted 
in  obedience  thereto. 

And  it  is  further  ordained,  that  in  no  case  of  law  or  equity, 
decided  in  the  courts  of  this  State,  wherein  shall  be  drawn  in 
question  the  authority  of  this  ordinance,  or  the  validity  of  such 
act  or  acts  of  the  Legislature  as  may  be  passed  for  the  purpose  of 
giving  effect  thereto,  or  the  validity  of  the  aforesaid  acts  of  Con 
gress,  imposing  duties,  shall  any  appeal  be  taken  or  allowed  to  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  nor  shall  any  copy  of  the 
record  be  permitted  or  allowed  for  that  purpose;  and  if  any  such 
appeal  shall  be  attempted  to  be  taken,  the  courts  of  this  State 
shall  proceed  to  execute  and  enforce  their  judgments,  according 
to  the  laws  and  usages  of  the  State,  without  reference  to  such 
attempted  appeal,  and  the  person  or  persons  attempting  to  take 
such  appeal  may  be  dealt  with  as  for  a  contempt  of  the  court. 

And  it  is  further  ordained,  that  all  persons  bow  [now]  holding 
any  office  of  honor,  profit,  or  trust,  civil  or  military,  under  this 
State,  (members  of  the  Legislature  excepted,)  shall,  within  such 


332  ORDINANCE   OF   NULLIFICATION  [Nov.  24 

time,  and  in  such  manner  as  the  Legislature  shall  prescribe,  take 
an  oath  well  and  truly  to  obey,  execute,  and  enforce,  this  ordi 
nance,  and  such  act  or  acts  of  the  Legislature  as  may  be  passed  in 
pursuance  thereof,  according  to  the  true  intent  and  meaning  of 
the  same;  and  on  the  neglect  or  omission  of  any  such  person  or 
persons  so  to  do,  his  or  their  office  or  offices  shall  be  forthwith 
vacated,  and  shall  be  filled  up  as  if  such  person  or  persons  were 
dead  or  had  resigned;  and  no  person  hereafter  elected  to  any 
office  of  honor,  profit,  or  trust,  civil  or  military,  (members  of  the 
Legislature  excepted,)  shall,  until  the  Legislature  shall  otherwise 
provide  and  direct,  enter  on  the  execution  of  his  office,  or  be  in 
any  respect  competent  to  discharge  the  duties  thereof,  until  he 
shall,  in  like  manner,  have  taken  a  similar  oath;  and  no  juror 
shall  be  empannelled  in  any  of  the  courts  of  this  State,  in  any 
cause  in  which  shall  be  in  question  this  ordinance,  or  any  act  of 
the  Legislature  passed  in  pursuance  thereof,  unless  he  shall  first, 
in  addition  to  the  usual  oath,  have  taken  an  oath  that  he  will  well 
and  truly  obey,  execute,  and  enforce  this  ordinance,  and  such  act 
or  acts  of  the  Legislature  as  may  be  passed  to  carry  the  same  into 
operation  and  effect,  according  to  the  true  intent  and  meaning 
thereof. 

And  we,  the  people  of  South  Carolina,  to  the  end  that  it  may 
be  fully  understood  by  the  Gov  nment  of  the  United  States,  and 
the  people  of  the  co-States,  that  we  are  determined  to  maintain 
this,  our  ordinance  and  declaration,  at  every  hazard,  do  further 
declare  that  we  will  not  submit  to  the  application  of  force,  on  the 
part  of  the  Federal  Government,  to  reduce  this  State  to  obedi 
ence;  but  that  we  will  consider  the  passage,  by  Congress,  of  any 
act  authorizing  the  employment  of  a  military  or  naval  force  against 
the  State  of  South  Carolina,  her  constituted  authorities  or  citizens; 
or  any  act  abolishing  or  closing  the  ports  of  this  State,  or  any  of 
them,  or  otherwise  obstructing  the  free  ingress  and  egress  of  ves 
sels  to  and  from  the  said  ports,  or  any  other  act  on  the  part  of  the 
Federal  Government,  to  coerce  the  State,  shut  up  her  ports, 
destroy  or  harrass  her  commerce,  or  to  enforce  the  acts  hereby 
declared  to  be  null  and  void,  otherwise  than  through  the  civil  tri 
bunals  of  the  country,  as  inconsistent  with  the  longer  continuance 
of  South  Carolina  in  the  Union :  and  that  the  people  of  this  State 
will  thenceforth  hold  themselves  absolved  from  all  further  obliga. 


1832]  PROCLAMATION   TO   SOUTH   CAROLINA  333 

tion  to  maintain  or  preserve  their  political  connexion  with  the 
people  }f  the  other  States,  and  will  forthwith  proceed  to  organiz0 
a  separate  Government,  and  do  all  other  acts  and  things  which 
sovereign  and  independent  States  may  of  right  to  do.1 


No.  86.     Jackson's  Proclamation  to  the 
People  of  South  Carolina 

December  10,  1832 

IN  anticipation  of  the  action  of  the  South  Carolina  convention,  Jackson 
issued  additional  instructions  to  the  collector  at  Charleston,  and  made  prep 
arations  for  using  the  military  and  naval  forces  of  the  United  States  if  neces 
sary.  The  authorities  of  South  Carolina  made  similar  preparations.  Hayne 
had  left  the  Senate  to  become  governor  of  the  State,  his  place  being  taken  by 
Calhoun,  who  resigned  the  Vice-Presidency.  In  his  annual  message  of  Dec. 
4,  1832,  Jackson  referred  briefly  to  the  state  of  affairs  in  South  Carolina,  and 
expressed  the  hope  that  existing  laws  would  prove  sufficient  for  any  exigency. 
On  the  xoth  he  issued  the  proclamation  to  the  people  of  South  Carolina,  ex 
tracts  from  which  follow.  December  20  Governor  Hayne,  at  the  request  of 
the  legislature,  issued  a  counter  proclamation,  in  which,  among  other  matters, 
the  interference  of  the  President  was  resented,  and  the  right  of  secession 
affirmed.  On  the  same  day  general  orders,  over  the  signature  of  the  adjutant 
general  of  the  State,  invited  the  services  of  volunteers. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Senate  Doc.  30,  22d  Cong.,  ad  Sess.,  pp.  78-92; 
the  same  document  contains  also  the  instructions  to  the  collector  of  customs 
and  the  United  States  district  attorney,  and  the  proclamation  of  Governor 
Hayne.  The  resolution  of  the  legislature  of  South  Carolina,  in  response  to 
the  proclamation,  is  in  Niles's  Register,  XLIII.,  300. 

[After  reciting  the  circumstances  under  which  the  Ordinance  of 
Nullification  was  issued,  and  the  substance  of  its  assertions,  the 
proclamation  continues :] 

And  whereas,  the  said  ordinance  prescribes  to  the  people  of 
South  Carolina  a  course  of  conduct  in  direct  violation  of  their 
duty  as  citizens  of  the  United  States,  contrary  to  the  laws  of  their 
country,  subversive  of  its  Constitution,  and  having  for  its  object 
the  destruction  of  the  Union  —  that  Union,  which,  coeval  with 
our  political  existence,  led  our  fathers,  without  any  other  ties  to 
unite  them  than  those  of  patriotism  and  a  common  cause,  through 

1  The  formal  indorsement  and  the  names  of  the  signers  are  omitted.  —  ED. 


334  PROCLAMATION   TO    SOUTH   CAROLINA       [Dec.  10 

a  sanguinary  struggle  to  a  glorious  independence  —  that  sacred 
Union,  hitherto  inviolate,  which,  perfected  by  our  happy  Constitu« 
tion,  has  brought  us,  by  the  favor  of  Heaven,  to  a  state  of  pros 
perity  at  home,  and  high  consideration  abroad,  rarely,  if  ever, 
equalled  in  the  history  of  nations.  To  preserve  this  bond  of  our 
political  existence  from  destruction,  to  maintain  inviolate  this  state 
of  national  honor  and  prosperity,  and  to  justify  the  confidence  my 
fellow  citizens  have  reposed  in  me,  I,  ANDREW  JACKSON,  President 
of  the  United  States,  have  thought  proper  to  issue  this  my  PROC 
LAMATION,  stating  my  views  of  the  Constitution  and  laws  appli 
cable  to  the  measures  adopted  by  the  Convention  of  South  Carolina, 
and  to  the  reasons  they  have  put  forth  to  sustain  them,  declaring 
the  course  which  duty  will  require  me  to  pursue,  and,  appealing 
to  the  understanding  and  patriotism  of  the  people,  warn  them  of 
the  consequences  that  must  inevitably  result  from  an  observance 
of  the  dictates  of  the  Convention.  .  .  . 

The  ordinance  is  founded,  not  on  the  indefeasible  right  of 
resisting  acts  which  are  plainly  unconstitutional,  and  too  oppres 
sive  to  be  endured;  but  on  the  strange  position  that  any  one 
State  may  not  only  declare  an  act  of  Congress  void,  but  prohibit 
its  execution  —  that  they  may  do  this  consistently  with  the  Consti 
tution  —  that  the  true  construction  of  that  instrument  permits  a 
State  to  retain  its  place  in  the  Union,  and  yet  be  bound  by  no 
other  of  its  laws  than  those  it  may  choose  to  consider  as  consti 
tutional.  It  is  true,  they  add,  that  to  justify  this  abrogation  of  a 
law,  it  must  be  palpably  contrary  to  the  Constitution;  but  it  is 
evident,  that,  to  give  the  right  of  resisting  laws  of  that  description, 
coupled  with  the  uncontrolled  right  to  decide  what  laws  deserve 
that  character,  is  to  give  the  power  of  resisting  all  laws.  For,  as 
by  the  theory,  there  is  no  appeal,  the  reasons  alleged  by  the  State, 
good  or  bad,  must  prevail.  If  it  should  be  said  that  public  opinion 
is  a  sufficient  check  against  the  abuse  of  this  power,  it  may  be 
asked  why  it  is  not  deemed  a  sufficient  guard  against  the  passage 
of  an  unconstitutional  act  by  Congress?  There  is,  however,  a 
restraint  in  this  last  case,  which  makes  the  assumed  power  of  a 
State  more  indefensible,  and  which  does  not  exist  in  the  other. 
There  are  two  appeals  from  an  unconstitutional  act  passed  by 
Congress  —  one  to  the  Judiciary,  the  other  to  the  people  and  the 
States.  There  is  no  appeal  from  the  State  decision  in  theory,  and 


1832]  PROCLAMATION   TO   SOUTH   CAROLINA  335 

the  practical  illustration  shows  that  the  courts  are  closed  against 
an  application  to  review  it,  both  judges  and  jurors  being  sworn  to 
decide  in  its  favor.  But  reasoning  on  this  subject  is  superfluous, 
when  our  social  compact,  in  express  terms,  declares  that  the  laws 
of  the  United  States,  its  Constitution,  and  treaties  made  under  it, 
are  the  supreme  law  of  the  land;  and,  for  greater  caution,  adds 
"that  the  judges  in  every  State  shall  be  bound  thereby,  anything 
in  the  Constitution  or  laws  of  any  State  to  the  contrary  notwith 
standing."  And  it  may  be  asserted  without  fear  of  refutation,  that 
no  Federative  Government  could  exist  without  a  similar  provision. 
Look  for  a  moment  to  the  consequence.  If  South  Carolina  con 
siders  the  revenue  laws  unconstitutional,  and  has  a  right  to  prevent 
their  execution  in  the  port  of  Charleston,  there  would  be  a  clear 
constitutional  objection  to  their  collection  in  every  other  port,  and 
no  revenue  could  be  collected  any  where ;  for  all  imposts  must  be 
equal.  It  is  no  answer  to  repeat,  that  an  unconstitutional  law  is 
no  law,  so  long  as  the  question  of  its  legality  is  to  be  decided 
by  the  State  itself;  for  every  law  operating  injuriously  upon  any 
local  interest  will  be  perhaps  thought,  and  certainly  represented, 
as  unconstitutional,  and,  as  has  been  shown,  there  is  no 
appeal.  .  .  . 

If  the  doctrine  of  a  State  veto  upon  the  laws  of  the  Union  carries 
with  it  internal  evidence  of  its  impracticable  absurdity,  our  con 
stitutional  history  will  also  afford  abundant  proof  that  it  would 
have  been  repudiated  with  indignation  had  it  been  proposed  to 
form  a  feature  in  our  Government.  .  .  . 

I  consider,  then,  the  power  to  annul  a  law  of  the  United  States, 
assumed  by  one  State,  INCOMPATIBLE  WITH  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  THE 

UNION,  CONTRADICTED  EXPRESSLY  BY  THE  LETTER  OF  THE  CONSTI 
TUTION,  UNAUTHORIZED  BY  ITS  SPIRIT,  INCONSISTENT  WITH  EVERY 
PRINCIPLE  ON  WHICH  IT  WAS  FOUNDED,  AND  DESTRUCTIVE  OF  THE 
GREAT  OBJECT  FOR  WHICH  IT  WAS  FORMED. 

After  this  general  view  of  the  leading  principle,  we  must  exam 
ine  the  particular  application  of  it  which  is  made  in  the  ordinance. 

The  preamble  rests  its  justification  on  these  grounds :  It  assumes, 
as  a  fact,  that  the  obnoxious  laws,  although  they  purport  to  be 
laws  for  raising  revenue,  were  in  reality  intended  for  the  protection 
of  manufactures,  which  purpose  it  asserts  to  be  unconstitutional; 
that  the  operation  of  these  laws  is  unequal;  that  the  amount 


336  PROCLAMATION   TO   SOUTH   CAROLINA       [Dec.  10 

raised  by  them  is  greater  than  is  required  by  the  wants  of  the 
Government;  and,  finally,  that  the  proceeds  are  to  be  applied 
to  objects  unauthorized  by  the  Constitution.  These  are  the  only 
causes  alleged  to  justify  an  open  opposition  to  the  laws  of  the 
country,  and  a  threat  of  seceding  from  the  Union,  if  any  attempt 
should  be  made  to  enforce  them.  The  first  virtually  acknowledges 
that  the  law  in  question  was  passed  under  a  power  expressly  given 
by  the  Constitution  to  lay  and  collect  imposts;  but  its  constitu 
tionality  is  drawn  in  question  from  the  motives  of  those  who  passed 
it.  However  apparent  this  purpose  may  be  in  the  present  case, 
nothing  can  be  more  dangerous  than  to  admit  the  position  that  an 
unconstitutional  purpose,  entertained  by  the  members  who  assent 
to  a  law  enacted  under  a  constitutional  power,  shall  make  that 
law  void:  for  how  is  that  purpose  to  be  ascertained?  Who  is  to 
make  the  scrutiny?  How  often  may  bad  purposes  be  falsely 
imputed  —  in  how  many  cases  are  they  concealed  by  false  pro 
fessions  —  in  how  many  is  no  declaration  of  motive  made  ?  Admit 
this  doctrine,  and  you  give  to  the  States  an  uncontrolled  right  to 
decide,  and  every  law  may  be  annulled  under  this  pretext.  If, 
therefore,  the  absurd  and  dangerous  doctrine  should  be  admitted, 
that  a  State  may  annul  an  unconstitutional  law,  or  one  that  it 
deems  such,  it  will  not  apply  to  the  present  case. 

The  next  objection  is,  that  the  laws  in  question  operate  un 
equally.  This  objection  may  be  made  with  truth,  to  every  law 
that  has  been  or  can  be  passed.  The  wisdom  of  man  never  yet 
contrived  a  system  of  taxation  that  would  operate  with  perfect 
equality.  If  the  unequal  operation  of  a  law  makes  it  unconstitu 
tional,  and  if  all  laws  of  that  description  may  be  abrogated  by  any 
State  for  that  cause,  then  indeed  is  the  Federal  Constitution  un 
worthy  of  the  slightest  effort  for  its  preservation.  .  .  . 

The  two  remaining  objections  made  by  the  ordinance  to  these 
laws,  are  that  the  sums  intended  to  be  raised  by  them  are  greater 
than  are  required,  and  that  the  proceeds  will  be  unconstitutionally 
employed. 

The  Constitution  has  given,  expressly,  to  Congress  the  right  of 
raising  revenue,  and  of  determining  the  sum*  the  public  exigencies 
will  require.  The  States  have  no  control  over  the  exercise  of  this 
right  other  than  that  which  results  from  the  power  of  changing  the 
representatives  who  abuse  it,  and  thus  procure  redress.  Congress 


1832]  PROCLAMATION   TO   SOUTH   CAROLINA  337 

may,  undoubtedly,  abuse  this  discretionary  power,  but  the  same 
may  be  said  of  others  with  which  they  are  vested.  Yet  the  dis 
cretion  must  exist  somewhere.  The  Constitution  has  given  it  to 
the  representatives  of  all  the  people,  checked  by  the  representa 
tives  of  the  States,  and  by  the  Executive  Power.  The  South 
Carolina  construction  gives  it  to  the  Legislature  or  the  Conven 
tion  of  a  single  State,  where  neither  the  people  of  the  different 
States,  nor  the  States  in  their  separate  capacity,  nor  the  Chief 
Magistrate  elected  by  the  people,  have  any  representation.  Which 
is  the  most  discreet  disposition  of  the  power  ?  .  .  . 

The  ordinance,  with  the  same  knowledge  of  the  future  that 
characterizes  a  former  objection,  tells  you  that  the  proceeds  of 
the  tax  will  be  unconstitutionally  applied.  If  this  could  be  ascer 
tained  with  certainty,  the  objection  would,  with  more  propriety, 
be  reserved  for  the  law  so  applying  the  proceeds,  but  surely  can 
not  be  urged  against  the  laws  levying  the  duty.  .  .  . 

On  such  expositions  and  reasonings,  the  ordinance  grounds  not 
only  an  assertion  of  the  right  to  annul  the  laws  of  which  it  com 
plains,  but  to  enforce  it  by  a  threat  of  seceding  from  the  Union  if 
any  attempt  is  made  to  execute  them. 

This  right  to  secede  is  deduced  from  the  nature  of  the  Constitu 
tion,  which,  they  say,  is  a  compact  between  sovereign  States,  who 
have  preserved  their  whole  sovereignty,  and,  therefore,  are  subject 
to  no  superior;  that,  because  they  made  the  compact,  they  can 
break  it  when,  in  their  opinion,  it  has  been  departed  from  by  the 
other  States.  .  .  . 

The  people  of  the  United  States  formed  the  Constitution,  acting 
through  the  State  Legislatures  in  making  the  compact,  to  meet 
and  discuss  its  provisions,  and  acting  in  separate  Conventions 
when  they  ratified  those  provisions:  but  the  terms  used  in  its 
construction,  show  it  to  be  a  government  in  which  the  people  of 
all  the  States  collectively  are  represented.  .  .  . 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  then  forms  a  government, 
not  a  league ;  and  whether  it  be  formed  by  compact  between  the 
States,  or  in  any  other  manner,  its  character  is  the  same.  It  is  a 
government  in  which  all  the  people  are  represented,  which  operates 
directly  on  the  people  individually,  not  upon  the  States  —  they 
retained  all  the  power  they  did  not  grant.  But  each  State  having 
expressly  parted  with  so  many  powers  as  to  constitute,  jointly 


338  PROCLAMATION  TO   SOUTH   CAROLINA        [Dec.  10 

with  the  other  States,  a  single  nation,  cannot,  from  that  period, 
possess  any  right  to  secede,  because  such  secession  does  not 
break  a  league,  but  destroys  the  unity  of  a  nation ;  and  any  injury 
to  that  unity  is  not  only  a  breach  which  would  result  from  the 
contravention  of  a  compact,  but  it  is  an  offence  against  the  whole 
Union.  To  say  that  any  State  may  at  pleasure  secede  from  the 
Union,  is  to  say  that  the  United  States  are  not  a  nation,  because 
it  would  be  a  solecism  to  contend  that  any  part  of  a  nation  might 
dissolve  its  connexion  with  the  other  parts,  to  their  injury  or  ruin, 
without  committing  any  offence.  Secession,  like  any  other  revo 
lutionary  act,  may  be  morally  justified  by  the  extremity  of  oppres 
sion;  but  to  call  it  a  constitutional  right,  is  confounding  the 
meaning  of  terms;  and  can  only  be  done  through  gross  error,  or 
to  deceive  those  who  are  willing  to  assert  a  right,  but  would  pause 
before  they  made  a  revolution,  or  incur  the  penalties  consequent 
on  a  failure. 

Because  the  Union  was  formed  by  compact,  it  is  said  the  parties 
to  that  compact  may,  when  they  feel  themselves  aggrieved,  depart 
from  it :  but  it  is  precisely  because  it  is  a  compact  that  they  cannot. 
A  compact  is  an  agreement  or  binding  obligation.  It  may  by  its 
terms  have  a  sanction  or  penalty  for  its  breach  or  it  may  not. 
If  it  contains  no  sanction,  it  may  be  broken  with  no  other  conse 
quence  than  moral  guilt:  if  it  have  a  sanction,  then  the  breach 
insures  the  designated  or  implied  penalty.  A  league  between 
independent  nations,  generally,  has  no  sanction  other  than  a  moral 
one;  or  if  it  should  contain  a  penalty,  as  there  is  no  common 
superior,  it  cannot  be  enforced.  A  government,  on  the  contrary, 
always  has  a  sanction,  express  or  implied;  and,  in  our  case,  it  is 
both  necessarily  implied  and  expressly  given.  An  attempt,  by 
force  of  arms,  to  destroy  a  government,  is  an  offence  by  whatever 
means  the  constitutional  compact  may  have  been  formed,  and 
such  government  has  the  right,  by  the  law  of  self-defence,  to  pass 
acts  for  punishing  the  offender,  unless  that  right  is  modified, 
restrained,  or  resumed  by  the  constitutional  act.  In  our  system, 
although  it  is  modified  in  the  case  of  treason,  yet  authority  is 
expressly  given  to  pass  all  laws  necessary  to  carry  its  powers  into 
effect,  and,  under  this  grant,  provision  has  been  made  for  punishing 
acts  which  obstruct  the  due  administration  of  the  laws. 

...  No  one,  fellow  citizens,  has  a  higher  reverence  for  th« 


1832]  PROCLAMATION   TO   SOUTH   CAROLINA  339 

reserved  rights  of  the  States  than  the  magistrate  who  now  ad 
dresses  you.  No  one  would  make  greater  personal  sacrifices, 
or  official  exertions,  to  defend  them  from  violation ;  but  equal  care 
must  be  taken  to  prevent,  on  their  part,  an  improper  interference 
with,  or  resumption  of,  the  rights  they  have  vested  in  the  nation. 
The  line  has  not  been  so  distinctly  drawn  as  to  avoid  doubts  in 
some  cases  of  the  exercise  of  power.  Men  of  the  best  intentions 
and  soundest  views  may  differ  in  their  construction  of  some  parts 
of  the  Constitution;  but  there  are  others  on  which  dispassionate 
reflection  can  leave  no  doubt.  Of  this  nature  appears  to  be  the 
assumed  right  of  secession.  .  .  . 

These  are  the  alternatives  that  are  presented  by  the  Convention : 
a  repeal  of  all  the  acts  for  raising  revenue,  leaving  the  Government 
without  the  means  of  support,  or  an  acquiescence  in  the  dissolu 
tion  of  our  Union  by  the  secession  of  one  of  its  members.  When 
the  first  was  proposed,  it  was  known  that  it  could  not  be  listened 
to  for  a  moment.  It  was  known,  if  force  was  applied  to  oppose 
the  execution  of  the  laws  that  it  must  be  repelled  by  force;  that 
Congress  could  not,  without  involving  itself  in  disgrace  and  the 
country  in  ruin,  accede  to  the  proposition:  and  yet  if  this  is  not 
done  in  a  given  day,  or  if  any  attempt  is  made  to  execute  the 
laws,  the  State  is,  by  the  ordinance,  declared  to  be  out  of  the 
Union.  The  majority  of  a  Convention  assembled  for  the  purpose, 
have  dictated  these  terms,  or  rather  this  rejection  of  all  terms,  in 
the  name  of  the  people  of  South  Carolina.  It  is  true  that  the 
Governor  of  the  State  speaks  of  the  submission  of  their  grievances 
to  a  Convention  of  all  the  States,  which,  he  says,  they  "sincerely 
and  anxiously  seek  and  desire."  Yet  this  obvious  and  constitu 
tional  mode  of  obtaining  the  sense  of  the  other  States  on  the 
construction  of  the  federal  compact,  and  amending  it,  '.:  neces 
sary,  has  never  been  attempted  by  those  who  have  urged  the 
State  on  to  this  destructive  measure.  The  State  might  have  pro 
posed  the  call  for  a  General  Convention  to  the  other  States;  and 
Congress,  if  a  sufficient  number  of  them  concurred,  must  have 
called  it.  But  the  first  magistrate  of  South  Carolina,  when  he 
expressed  a  hope  that,  "on  a  review  by  Congress  and  the  func 
tionaries  of  the  General  Government,  of  the  merits  of  the  contro 
versy,"  such  a  Convention  will  be  accorded  to  them,  must  have 
known  that  neither  Congress,  nor  any  functionary  of  the  General 


340  PROCLAMATION   TO    SOUTH    CAROLINA       [Dec.  10 

Government,  has  authority  to  call  such  a  Convention,  unless  it  be 
demanded  by  two-thirds  of  the  States.  This  suggestion,  then,  is 
another  instance  of  the  reckless  inattention  to  the  provisions  of  the 
Constitution  with  which  this  crisis  has  been  madly  hurried  on ;  or 
of  the  attempt  to  persuade  the  people  that  a  constitutional  rem 
edy  had  been  sought  and  refused.  If  the  Legislature  of  South 
Carolina  " anxiously  desire"  a  General  Convention  to  consider 
their  complaints,  why  have  they  not  made  application  for  it  in  the 
way  the  Constitution  points  out?  The  assertion  that  they  "ear 
nestly  seek  it "  is  completely  negatived  by  the  omission. 

This,  then,  is  the  position  in  which  we  stand.  A  small  majority 
of  the  citizens  of  one  State  in  the  Union  have  elected  delegates  to 
a  State  Convention;  that  Convention  has  ordained  that  all  the 
revenue  laws  of  the  United  States  must  be  repealed,  or  that  they 
are  no  longer  a  member  of  the  Union.  The  Governor  of  that 
State  has  recommended  to  the  Legislature  the  raising  of  an  army 
to  carry  the  secession  into  effect,  and  that  he  may  be  empowered 
to  give  clearances  to  vessels  in  the  name  of  the  State.  No  act  of 
violent  opposition  to  the  laws  has  yet  been  committed,  but  such  a 
state  of  things  is  hourly  apprehended;  and  it  is  the  intent  of 
this  instrument  to  proclaim,  not  only  that  the  duty  imposed  on 
me  by  the  Constitution  "to  take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully 
executed,"  shall  be  performed  to  the  extent  of  the  powers  already 
vested  in  me  by  law,  or  of  such  others  as  the  wisdom  of  Congress 
shall  devise  and  entrust  to  me  for  that  purpose,  but  to  warn  the 
citizens  of  South  Carolina  who  have  been  deluded  into  an  opposi 
tion  to  the  laws,  of  the  danger  they  will  incur  by  obedience  to  the 
illegal  and  disorganizing  ordinance  of  the  Convention;  to  exhort 
those  who  have  refused  to  support  it  to  persevere  in  their  deter 
mination  to  uphold  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  their  country; 
and  to  point  out  to  all  the  perilous  situation  into  which  the  good 
people  of  that  State  have  been  led,  and  that  the  course  they  are 
urged  to  pursue  is  one  of  ruin  and  disgrace  to  the  very  State  whose 
rights  they  affect  to  support.  .  .  . 


1833]  ACT   FOR  ENFORCING   THE  TARIFF  341 

No.  87.     Act  for  Enforcing  the  Tariff 

March  2,  1833 

IN  his  annual  message  of  Dec.  4,  1832,  Jackson  suggested  that  "the  policy 
of  protection  must  be  ultimately  limited  to  those  articles  of  domestic  manu 
facture  which  are  indispensable  to  our  safety  in  time  of  war" ;  and  the  annual 
report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  recommended  a  reduction  of  duties  to 
a  revenue  basis.  December  27  Verplanck  of  New  York  reported  from  the 
House  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means  a  bill  to  reduce  the  tariff.  January 
1 6,  1833,  Jackson  sent  to  Congress  his  message  on  nullification,  reviewing  the 
progress  of  events  in  South  Carolina  and  asking  for  additional  legislation  to 
enforce  the  revenue  laws.  On  the  2ist  a  bill  to  enforce  the  collection  of  the 
revenue  was  reported  in  the  Senate  by  Wilkins  of  Pennsylvania,  from  the  Com 
mittee  on  the  Judiciary.  The  tariff  bill,  sharply  antagonized  by  protectionist 
members,  was  meantime  making  its  way  through  the  House.  February  12 
Clay  introduced  in  the  Senate  a  compromise  tariff  bill.  On  the  2oth  the  Sen 
ate  passed  the  "force  bill"  by  a  vote  of  32  to  i,  and  on  the  following  day  took 
up  Clay's  bill.  On  the  25th  the  House  recommitted  its  tariff  bill,  by  a  vote 
of  95  to  54,  with  instructions  to  report  the  compromise  tariff  in  its  place;  on 
the  26th  the  latter  passed  the  House,  the  vote  being  119  to  85.  The  same 
day  the  Senate  laid  Clay's  bill  on  the  table,  and  March  i  passed  the  House 
bill,  by  a  vote  of  29  to  16.  The  "force  bill"  passed  the  House  March  i,  by 
a  vote  of  149  to  47.  In  the  meantime,  many  State  legislatures  had  passed 
resolutions  against  nullification.  The  South  Carolina  ordinance  was  to  go 
into  effect  Feb.  i,  but  action  was  deferred  pending  congressional  settlement 
of  the  tariff.  The  passage  of  the  compromise  tariff  was  regarded  as  a  sig 
nal  victory  by  the  nullifiers.  The  convention  was  summoned  to  meet 
March  n ;  on  the  i8th  it  dissolved,  after  repealing  the  ordinance  of  nullifica 
tion  and  adopting  an  ordinance  nullifying  the  "force  bill." 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  IV.,  632-635.  For  the  pro 
ceedings,  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  22d  Cong.,  2d  Sess.;  for  the 
discussions,  see  the  Cong.  Debates,  or  Benton's  Abridgment,  XII.  Niles's 
Register,  XLIIL,  contains  abstracts  of  debates  and  numerous  documents. 
The  message  of  Jan.  16  is  in  the  Journals.  The  speeches  of  Webster  and 
Calhoun  on  the  "force  bill"  are  in  the  Cong.  Debates,  and  also  Calhoun's 
Works  (ed.  1853),  II.,  197-309,  and  Webster's  Works  (ed.  1857),  III.,  448- 
5°S- 

An  Act  further  to  provide  for  the  collection  of  duties  on  imports. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  whenever,  by  reason  of  unlawful 
obstructions,  combinations,  or  assemblages  of  persons,  it  shall 
become  impracticable,  in  the  judgment  of  the  President, 
to  execute  the  revenue  laws,  and  collect  the  duties  on  imports 
in  the  ordinary  way,  in  any  collection  district,  it  shall  and 
may  be  lawful  for  the  President  to  direct  that  the  custom-house 


342  ACT   FOR  ENFORCING   THE   TARIFF          [March  2 

for  such  district  be  established  and  kept  in  any  secure  place  within 
some  port  or  harbour  of  such  district,  either  upon  land  or  on  board 
any  vessel ;  and,  in  that  case,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  collector 
to  reside  at  such  place,  and  there  to  detain  all  vessels  and  cargoes 
arriving  within  the  said  district  until  the  duties  imposed  on  said 
cargoes,  by  law,  be  paid  in  cash,  deducting  interest  according  to 
existing  laws;  and  in  such  cases  it  shall  be  unlawful  to  take  the 
vessel  or  cargo  from  the  custody  of  the  proper  officer  of  the  cus 
toms,  unless  by  process  from  some  Court  of  the  United  States; 
and  in  case  of  any  attempt  otherwise  to  take  such  vessel  or  cargo 
by  any  force,  or  combination,  or  assemblage  of  persons  too  great 
to  be  overcome  by  the  officers  of  the  customs,  it  shall  and  may  be 
lawful  for  the  President  of  the  United  States,  or  such  person  or 
persons  as  he  shall  have  empowered  for  that  purpose,  to  employ 
such  part  of  the  land  or  naval  forces,  or  militia  of  the  United  States, 
as  may  be  deemed  necessary  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  the 
removal  of  such  vessel  or  cargo,  and  protecting  the  officers  of  the 
customs  in  retaining  the  custody  thereof. 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
circuit  courts  of  the  United  States  shall  extend  to  all  cases,  in  law 
or  equity,  arising  under  the  revenue  laws  of  the  United  States,  for 
which  other  provisions  are  not  already  made  by  law;  and  if  any 
person  shall  receive  any  injury  to  his  person  or  property  for  or  on 
account  of  any  act  by  him  done,  under  any  law  of  the  United 
States,  for  the  protection  of  the  revenue  or  the  collection  of  duties 
on  imports,  he  shall  be  entitled  to  maintain  suit  for  damage  there 
for  in  the  circuit  court  of  the  United  States  in  the  district  wherein 
the  party  doing  the  injury  may  reside,  or  shall  be  found.  And 
all  property  taken  or  detained  by  any  officer  or  other  person  under 
authority  of  any  revenue  law  of  the  United  States,  shall  be  irre- 
pleviable,  and  shall  be  deemed  to  be  in  the  custody  of  the  law, 
and  subject  only  to  the  orders  and  decrees  of  the  courts  of  the 
United  States  having  jurisdiction  thereof.  And  if  any  person 
shall  dispossess  or  rescue,  or  attempt  to  dispossess  or  rescue, 
any  property  so  taken  or  detained  as  aforesaid,  or  shall  aid  or 
assist  therein,  such  person  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  misde 
meanour,  and  shall  be  liable  to  such  punishment  as  is  provided 
by  the  twenty-second  section  of  the  act  ...  [of  April  30,  1790]* 

1  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  I.,  112,  117.  —  £D. 


1833]  ACT  FOR  ENFORCING  THE  TARIFF  343 

.  .  .  ,  for  the  wilful  obstruction  or  resistance  of  officers  in  the 
service  of  process. 

[Sections  3  and  4  provide  for  the  transfer  to  United  States 
circuit  courts,  and  trial  there,  of  cases  in  State  courts  under  the 
revenue  laws.] 

SEC.  5.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  whenever  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States  shall  be  officially  informed,  by  the 
authorities  of  any  state,  or  by  a  judge  of  any  circuit  or  district 
court  of  the  United  States,  in  the  state,  that,  within  the  limits  of 
such  state,  any  law  or  laws  of  the  United  States,  or  the  execution 
thereof,  or  of  any  process  from  the  courts  of  the  United  States,  is 
obstructed  by  the  employment  of  military  force,  or  by  any  other 
unlawful  means,  too  great  to  be  overcome  by  the  ordinary  course 
of  judicial  proceeding,  or  by  the  powers  vested  in  the  marshal  by 
existing  laws,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  him,  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  forthwith  to  issue  his  proclamation,  declaring  such 
fact  or  information,  and  requiring  all  such  military  and  other  force 
forthwith  to  disperse ;  and  if  at  any  time  after  issuing  such  proc 
lamation,  any  such  opposition  or  obstruction  shall  be  made,  in 
the  manner  or  by  the  means  aforesaid,  the  President  shall  be,  and 
hereby  is,  authorized,  promptly  to  employ  such  means  to  suppress 
the  same,  and  to  cause  the  said  laws  or  process  to  be  duly  exe 
cuted,  as  are  authorized  and  provided  in  the  cases  therein  men 
tioned  by  ...  [certain  military  acts  of  February  28,  1795,  and 
March  3,  iSo;.1] 

******** 

SEC.  7.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  either  of  the  justices 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  or  a  judge  of  any  district  court  of  the 
United  States,  in  addition  to  the  authority  already  conferred  by 
law,  shall  have  power  to  grant  writs  of  habeas  corpus  in  all  cases 
of  a  prisoner  or  prisoners,  in  jail  or  confinement,  where  he  or 
they  shall  be  committed  or  confined  on,  or  by  any  authority  or 
law,  for  any  act  done,  or  omitted  to  be  done,  in  pursuance  of  a 
law  of  the  United  States,  or  any  order,  process,  or  decree,  of  any 
judge  or  court  thereof,  any  thing  in  any  act  of  Congress  to  the 
contrary  notwithstanding.  .  .  . 

SEC.  8.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  several  provisions 
contained  in  the  first  and  fifth  sections  of  this  act,  shall  be  in 
force  until  the  end  of  the  next  session  of  Congress,  and  no  longer. 

1  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  I.,  424,  425,  and  II.,  443.  —  ED. 


344  REMOVAL   OF   THE   DEPOSITS  [Sept.  18 


Removal  of  the  Deposits 

September,   1833 

BY  the  bank  charter  act  the  immediate  control  of  the  public  deposits  was 
vested  in  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  with  the  further  provision  that,  in 
case  of  their  removal  from  the  bank,  the  reasons  therefor  should  be  laid  be 
fore  Congress.  The  removal  of  the  deposits  seems  to  have  been  discussed 
in  administration  circles  soon  after  Jackson's  second  election ;  reports,  how 
ever,  did  not  become  current  until  July,  1833.  In  May  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  McLane,  having  declined  to  order  the  removal,  was  transferred 
to  the  Department  of  State,  and  Duane  appointed  in  his  place.  September 
18  Jacksi-i  read  to  the  Cabinet  an  elaborate  paper,  drafted  by  Taney,  the 
Attorney-General,  setting  forth  at  length  his  reasons  for  deciding  upon  the 
removal  of  the  deposits  after  Oct.  i.  Although  Duane  was  opposed  to  the 
bank,  he  "refused  to  give  the  order  and  refused  to  resign";  Sept.  23  he  was 
dismissed,  and  Taney  became  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  In  the  meantime 
Amos  Kendall,  a  member  of  the  "Kitchen  Cabinet,"  had  been  sent  to  visit 
a  number  of  eastern  cities  and  arrange  with  State  banks  to  receive  the  pub 
lic  deposits.  The  first  orders  for  removal  were  issued  by  Taney  Sept.  26, 
and  designated  the  Girard  Bank  of  Philadelphia  as  a  place  of  deposit.  In 
October  the  Maine  Bank  of  Portland  and  the  Franklin  Bank  of  Cincinnati 
were  similarly  designated. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  of  the  paper  read  to  the  Cabinet  in  Niles's  Register, 
XLV.,  73-77;  it  is  also  in  the  Cong.  Globe,  1833-35,  I.,  pp.  50-62;  of  the 
correspondence  relative  to  the  removal  of  the  deposits,  in  Senate  Doc.  2,  23d 
Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  pp.  32-36.  The  removal  of  the  deposits  was  the  principal 
subject  of  debate  in  the  session  of  Congress  which  met  Dec.  2,  1833.  Nu 
merous  documents  are  collected  in  Niles's  Register,  XLV.,  XLVI. 


No.  88.     Jackson's    Paper  read    to   the 
Cabinet 

September  18,  1833 

Having  carefully  and  anxiously  considered  all  the  facts  and 
arguments,  which  have  been  submitted  to  him,  relative  to  a  removal 
of  the  public  deposites  from  the  bank  of  the  United  States,  the 
president  deems  it  his  duty,  to  communicate  in  this  manner  to  his 
cabinet  the  final  conclusions  of  his  own  mind,  and  the  reasons  on 
which  they  are  founded,  in  order  to  put  them  in  durable  form,  and 
to  prevent  misconceptions. 


PAPER   READ    TO   THE   CABINET  345 

[The  paper  then  reviews  the  controversy  with  the  bank,  and 
particularly  the  efforts  to  obtain  a  renewal  of  the  charter,  and 
continues:] 

The  power  of  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  over  the  deposites  is 
unqualified.  The  provision  that  he  shall  report  his  reasons  to 
congress,  is  no  limitation.  Had  it  not  been  inserted,  he  would 
have  been  responsible  to  congress,  had  he  made  a  removal  for  any 
other  than  good  reasons,  and  his  responsibility  now  ceases,  upon 
the  rendition  of  sufficient  ones  to  congress.  The  only  object  of 
the  provision,  is  to  make  his  reasons  accessible  to  congress,  and 
enable  that  body  the  more  readily  to  judge  of  their  soundness 
and  purity,  and  thereupon  to  make  such  further  provision  by  law 
as  the  legislative  power  may  think  proper  in  relation  to  the  deposite 
of  the  public  money.  Those  reasons  may  be  very  diversified.  It 
was  asserted  by  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  without  contradiction, 
as  early  as  1817,  that  he  had  power  "to  control  the  proceedings" 
of  the  bank  of  the  United  States  at  any  moment,  "by  changing 
the  deposites  to  the  state  banks,"  should  it  pursue  an  illiberal 
course  towards  those  institutions;  that  "the  secretary  of  the  treas 
ury  will  always  be  disposed  to  support  the  credit  of  the  state  banks, 
and  will  invariably  direct  transfers  from  the  deposites  of  the  public 
money  in  aid  of  their  legitimate  exertions  to  maintain  their  credit," 
and  he  asserted  a  right  to  employ  the  state  banks  when  the  bank 
of  the  United  States  should  refuse  to  receive  on  deposite  the  notes 
of  such  state  banks  as  the  public  interest  required  should  be 
received  in  payment  of  the  public  dues.  In  several  instances  he 
did  transfer  the  public  deposites  to  state  banks,  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  branches,  for  reasons  connected  only  with  the  safety 
of  those  banks,  the  public  convenience  and  the  interests  of  the 
treasury. 

If  it  was  lawful  for  Mr.  Crawford,  the  secretary  of  the  treasury 
at  that  time,  to  act  on  these  principles,  it  will  be  difficult  to  dis 
cover  any  sound  reason  against  the  application  of  similar  principles 
in  still  stronger  cases.  And  it  is  a  matter  of  surprise  that  a  power 
which,  in  the  infancy  of  the  bank,  was  freely  asserted  as  one  of  the 
ordinary  and  familiar  duties  of  the  secretary  of  the  treasury,  should 
now  be  gravely  questioned,  and  attempts  made  to  excite  and  alarm 
the  public  mind  as  if  some  new  and  unheardof  power  was  about 
to  be  usurped  by  the  executive  branch  of  the  government. 


346  REMOVAL   OF  THE   DEPOSITS  [Sept.  iS 

It  is  but  a  little  more  than  two  and  a  half  years  to  the  termina 
tion  of  the  charter  of  the  present  bank.  It  is  considered  as  the 
decision  of  the  country  that  it  shall  then  cease  to  exist,  and  no 
man,  the  president  believes,  has  reasonable  ground  for  expectation 
that  any  other  bank  of  the  United  States  will  be  created  by  Con 
gress.  ...  It  is  obvious  that  any  new  system  which  may  be 
substituted  in  the  place  of  the  bank  of  the  United  States,  could  not 
be  suddenly  carried  into  effect  on  the  termination  of  its  existence 
without  serious  inconvenience  to  the  government  and  the  people. 
Its  vast  amount  of  notes  are  then  to  be  redeemed  and  with 
drawn  from  circulation,  and  its  immense  debt  collected.  These 
operations  must  be  gradual,  otherwise  much  suffering  and  distress 
will  be  brought  upon  the  community.  It  ought  to  be  not  a  work  of 
months  only,  but  of  years,  and  the  president  thinks  it  cannot,  with 
due  attention  to  the  interests  of  the  people,  be  longer  postponed. 
It  is  safer  to  begin  it  too  soon  than  to  delay  it  too  long. 

It  is  for  the  wisdom  of  Congress  to  decide  upon  the  best  substi 
tute  to  be  adopted  in  the  place  of  the  bank  of  the  United  States; 
and  the  president  would  have  felt  himself  relieved  from  a  heavy  and 
painful  responsibility  if  in  the  charter  of  the  bank,  congress  had 
reserved  to  itself  the  power  of  directing  at  its  pleasure,  the  public 
money  to  be  elsewhere  deposited,  and  had  not  devolved  that 
powrer  exclusively  on  one  of  the  executive  departments.  .  .  .  But 
as  the  president  presumes  that  the  charter  to  the  bank  is  to  be 
considered  as  a  contract  on  the  part  of  the  government,  it  is  not 
now  in  the  power  of  congress  to  disregard  its  stipulations ;  and  by 
the  terms  of  that  contract  the  public  money  is  to  be  deposited  in 
the  bank,  during  the  continuance  of  its  charter,  unless  the  secretary 
of  the  treasury  shall  otherwise  direct.  .  .  . 

The  responsibility  is  thus  thrown  upon  the  executive  branch  of 
the  government,  of  deciding  how  long  before  the  expiration  of  the 
charter,  the  public  interests  will  require  the  deposites  to  be  placed 
elsewhere.  .  .  .  and  it  being  the  duty  of  one  of  the  executive 
departments  to  decide  in  the  first  instance,  subject  to  the  future 
action  of  the  legislative  power,  whether  the  public  deposites  shall 
remain  in  the  bank  of  the  United  States  until  the  end  of  its  exist 
ence,  or  be  withdrawn  some  time  before,  the  president  has  felt 
himself  bound  to  examine  the  question  carefully  and  deliberately 
in  order  to  make  up  his  judgment  on  the  subject:  and  in  his 


1833]  PAPER  READ  TO  THE  CABINET  347 

opinion  the  near  approach  of  the  termination  of  the  charter,  and 
the  public  considerations  heretofore  mentioned,  are  of  themselves 
amply  sufficient  to  justify  the  removal  of  thedeposites  without  refer 
ence  to  the  conduct  of  the  bank,  or  their  safety  in  its  keeping.  .  .  . 
[An  examination  of  the  charges  against  the  bank  follows.] 
It  has  been  alleged  by  some  as  an  objection  to  the  removal  of 
the  deposites,  that  the  bank  has  the  power,  and  in  that  event  will 
have  the  disposition,  to  destroy  the  state  banks  employed  by  the 
government,  and  bring  distress  .upon  the  country.  It  has  been 
the  fortune  of  the  president  to  encounter  dangers  which  were 
represented  as  equally  alarming,  and  he  has  seen  them  vanish 
before  resolution  and  energy.  .  .  .  The  president  verily  believes 
the  bank  has  not  the  power  to  produce  the  calamities  its  friends 
threaten.  The  funds  of  the  government  will  not  be  annihilated  by 
being  transferred.  They  will  immediately  be  issued  for  the  benefit 
of  trade,  and  if  the  bank  of  the  United  States  curtails  its  loans, 
the  state  banks,  strengthened  by  the  public  deposites,  will  extend 
theirs.  What  comes  in  through  one  bank,  will  go  out  through 
others,  and  the  equilibrium  will  be  preserved.  Should  the  bank, 
for  the  mere  purpose  of  producing  distress,  press  its  debtors  more 
heavily  than  some  of  them  can  bear,  the  consequences  will  recoil 
upon  itself,  and  in  the  attempts  to  embarrass  the  country,  it  will 
only  bring  loss  and  ruin  upon  the  holders  of  its  own  stock.  But  if 
the  president  believed  the  bank  possessed  all  the  power  which  has 
been  attributed  to  it,  his  determination  would  only  be  rendered  the 
more  inflexible.  If,  indeed,  this  corporation  now  holds  in  its 
hands  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  the  American  people,  it  is 
high  time  to  take  the  alarm.  If  the  despotism  be  already  upon  us, 
and  our  only  safety  is  in  the  mercy  of  the  despot,  recent  develop 
ments  in  relation  to  his  designs  and  the  means  he  employs,  show 
how  necessary  it  is  to  shake  it  off.  The  struggle  can  never  come 
with  less  distress  to  the  people,  or  under  more  favorable  auspices 
than  at  the  present  moment. 

All  doubts  as  to  the  willingness  of  state  banks  to  undertake  the 
service  of  the  government,  to  the  same  extent,  and  on  the  same 
terms,  as  it  is  now  performed  by  the  banks  [bank]  of  the  United 
States,  is  put  to  rest  by  the  report  of  the  agent  recently  employed 
to  collect  information ;  and  from  that  willingness,  their  own  safety 
in  the  operation  may  be  confidently  inferred.  .  .  . 


348  REMOVAL   OF  THE   DEPOSITS  [Sept.  i4 

From  all  these  considerations  the  president  thinks  that  the 
state  banks  ought  immediately  to  be  employed  in  the  collection 
and  disbursement  of  the  public  revenue,  and  the  funds  now  in 
the  bank  of  the  United  States  drawn  out  with  all  convenient 
despatch.  .  .  . 

******** 

In  conclusion  the  president  must  be  permitted  to  remark  that  he 
looks  upon  the  pending  question  as  of  higher  consideration  than  the 
mere  transfer  of  a  sum  of  money  from  one  bank  to  another.  Its 
decision  may  affect  the  character  of  our  government  for  ages  to 
come.  .  .  .  Viewing  it  as  a  question  of  transcendant  importance, 
both  in  the  principles  and  consequences  it  involves,  the  president 
could  not,  in  justice  to  the  responsibility  which  he  owes  to  the 
country,  refrain  from  pressing  upon  the  secretary  of  the  treasury, 
his  view  of  the  considerations  which  impel  to  immediate  action. 
Upon  him  has  been  devolved  by  the  constitution  and  the  suffrages 
of  the  American  people,  the  duty  of  superintending  the  operation 
of  the  executive  departments  of  the  government,  and  seeing  that 
the  laws  are  faithfully  executed.  In  the  performance  of  this  high 
trust,  it  is  his  undoubted  right  to  express  to  those  whom  the  laws 
and  his  own  choice  have  made  his  associates  in  the  administration 
of  the  government,  his  opinion  of  their  duties  under  circumstances 
as  they  arise.  It  is  this  right  which  he  now  exercises.  Far  be  it 
from  him  to  expect  or  require,  that  any  member  of  the  cabinet 
should  at  his  request,  order  or  dictation,  do  any  act  which  he 
believes  unlawful,  or  in  his  conscience  condemns.  From  them 
and  from  his  fellow  citizens  in  general,  he  desires  only  that  aid 
and  support,  which  their  reason  approves  and  their  conscience 
sanctions. 

In  the  remarks  he  has  made  on  this  all  important  question, 
he  trusts  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  will  see  only  the  frank 
and  respectful  declarations  of  the  opinions  which  the  president 
has  formed  on  a  measure  of  great  national  interest,  deeply  affecting 
the  character  and  usefulness  of  his  administration;  and  not  a 
spirit  of  dictation,  which  the  president  would  be  as  careful  to 
avoid,  as  ready  to  resist.  Happy  will  he  be,  if  the  facts  now  dis 
closed  produce  uniformity  of  opinion  and  unity  of  action  among 
the  members  of  the  administration. 

The  president  again  repeats  that  he  begs  his  cabinet  to  con- 


1833]  TANEY'S  INSTRUCTIONS  349 

sider  the  proposed  measure  as  his  own,  in  the  support  of  which  he 
shall  require  no  one  of  them  to  make  a  sacrifice  of  opinion  or 
principle.  Its  responsibility  has  been  assumed,  after  the  most 
mature  deliberation  and  reflection,  as  necessary  to  preserve  the 
morals  of  the  people,  the  freedom  of  the  press  and  the  purity  of 
the  elective  franchise,  without  which  all  will  unite  in  saying  that 
the  blood  and  treasure  expended  by  our  forefathers  in  the  estab 
lishment  of  our  happy  system  of  government  wrill  have  been  vain 
and  fruitless.  Under  these  convictions,  he  feels  that  a  measure 
so  important  to  the  American  people  cannot  be  commenced  too 
soon ;  and'  he  therefore  names  the  first  day  of  October  next,  as  a 
period  proper  for  the  change  of  the  deposites,  or  sooner,  provided 
the  necessary  arrangements  with  the  state  banks  can  be  made. 


No.  89.     Taney's  Instructions  to  the  Col 
lector  at  Philadelphia 

September   26,    1833 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT, 

September  26,  1833. 

SIR:  Believing  that  the  public  interest  requires  that  the  Bank 
of  the  United  States  should  cease  to  be  the  depository  of  the 
money  of  the  United  States,  I  have  determined  to  use  the  State 
banks  as  places  of  deposites;  and  have  selected  for  that  purpose, 
in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  the  Girard  Bank. 

You  will,  therefore,  present  the  enclosed  draft  of  a  contract  to 
that  bank;  and,  upon  the  execution  of  the  contract,  you  will 
forward  it  to  this  department.  You  will  ask  the  aid  of  the  District 
Attorney  of  the  United  States,  who  will  see  that  the  contract  is 
executed  in  due  form  under  the  corporate  seal.  The  contract 
being  executed,  you  will  then  deposite  all  of  the  public  money 
which  may  come  to  your  hands  after  the  thirtieth  day  of  this 
present  month  of  September,  in  the  bank  above  mentioned,  until 
the  further  order  of  this  department.  You  will  also  deposite  in 
the  said  bank,  for  collection,  all  the  bonds  which  may  hereafter 
be  taken  for  the  payment  of  duties. 

You  will  also  call  on  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  at  Philadel 


350  REMOVAL   OF  THE   DEPOSITS  [Sept.  26 

phia,  and  receive  from  it  all  bonds  hereafter  given  to  the  United 
States,  which  are  payable  on  or  after  the  first  day  of  October 
next,  and  deposite  them  for  collection  in  the  aforesaid  State  bank. 
I  send  you,  herewith,  an  order  on  the  Bank  of  the  United  States 
for  that  purpose. 

When  the  contract  shall  have  been  executed  by  the  State  bank, 
you  will  forward  the  enclosed  letters  to  the  collectors,  at  Bridge 
town,  Burlington,  Great  Egg  harbor,  and  Little  Egg  harbor,  who 
have  heretofore  deposited  the  money  received  by  them  in  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States. 

You  will  continue  to  deposite  as  usual,  in  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  until  the  thirtieth  of  this  present  month  of  September, 
inclusive. 

You  will  keep  a  copy  of  the  contract  executed  by  the  bank, 
and,  from  time  to  time,  advise  this  department  of  any  thing  you 
may  deem  material  to  the  public  interest,  connected  with  the 
change  of  the  deposites. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

R.  B.  TANEY, 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 
To  JAMES  N.  BARKER,  ESQ., 

Collector,  Philadelphia. 


No.  90.     Taney  to  the  Girard  Bank 

September  26,    1833 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT, 

September  26,  1833. 

SIR:  The  Girard  Bank  has  been  selected  by  this  department  as 
the  depository  of  the  public  money  collected  in  Philadelphia  and 
its  vicinity;  and  the  collector  at  Philadelphia  will  hand  you  the 
form  of  a  contract  proposed  to  be  executed,  with  a  copy  of  his 
instructions  from  this  department. 

In  selecting  your  institution  as  one  of  the  fiscal  agents  of  the 
Government,  I  not  only  rely  on  its  solidity  and  established  char 
acter,  as  affording  a  sufficient  guaranty  for  the  safety  of  the  public 
money  intrusted  to  its  keeping;  but  I  confide  also  in  its  disposi- 


1833]  TANEY'S  INSTRUCTIONS  351 

tion  to  adopt  the  most  liberal  course,  which  circumstances  will 
admit,  towards  other  moneyed  institutions  generally,  and  particu 
larly  to  those  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia. 

The  deposites  of  public  money  will  enable  you  to  afford  increased 
facilities  to  commerce,  and  to  extend  your  accomodation  to  indi 
viduals  ;  and  as  the  duties  which  are  payable  to  the  Government 
arise  from  the  business  and  enterprise  of  the  merchants  engaged 
in  foreign  trade,  it  is  but  reasonable  that  they  should  be  preferred 
in  the  additional  accommodation  which  the  public  deposites  will 
enable  your  institution  to  give,  whenever  it  can  be  done  without 
injustice  to  the  claims  of  other  classes  of  the  community. 

I  am,  very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

R.  B.  TANEY, 
Secretary  of  Treasury. 

To  the  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  GIRARD  BANK, 

Philadelphia. 


No.  91.     Taney  to  the  Bank  of  the  United 

States 

September   26,   1833 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT, 

September  26,  1833. 

SIR:  You  will  deliver  to  the  collector  at  Philadelphia  all  bonds 
to  the  United  States,  payable  on  or  after  the  first  of  October  next, 
which  may  be  in  your  possession  on  the  receipt  of  this  order. 

I  am,  very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

R.  B.  TANEY, 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

NICHOLAS  BIDDLE,  ESQ., 
President  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  Philadelphia. 


352  REMOVAL   OF  THE  DEPOSITS  [bept.  28 

No.  92.     Contract  between  the  Girard  Bank 
and  the  United  States 

September   28,   1833 

i st.  The  said  bank  agrees  to  receive,  and  enter  to  the  credit  of 
the  Treasurer  of  the  United  States,  all  sums  of  money  offered  to 
be  deposited  on  account  of  the  United  States,  whether  offered  in 
gold  or  silver  coin,  in  notes  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  or 
branches,  in  notes  of  any  bank  which  are  convertible  into  coin  in 
its  immediate  vicinity,  or  in  notes  of  any  bank  which  it  is,  for  the 
time  being,  in  the  habit  of  receiving. 

2.  If  the  deposite  in  said  bank  shall  exceed  one-half  of  its  capi 
tal  stock  actually  paid  in,  it  is  agreed  that  collateral  security,  sat 
isfactory  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  shall  be  given  for  its 
safe  keeping  and  faithful  disbursement :  Provided,  that,  if  the  said 
Secretary  shall  at  any  time  deem  it  necessary,  the  bank  agrees  to 
give  collateral  security  when  the  deposite  shall  not  equal  one-half 
the  capital. 

3.  The  said  bank  agrees  to  make  weekly  returns  of  its  entire 
condition  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  to  the  Treasurer 
of  the  United  States  of  the  state  of  his  account,  and  to  submit  its 
books  and  transactions  to  a  critical  examination  by  the  Secretary, 
or  any  agent  duly  authorized  by  him,  whenever  he  shall  require  it. 

This  examination  may  extend  to  all  the  books  and  accounts,  to 
the  cash  on  hand,  and  to  all  the  acts  and  concerns  of  the  bank, 
except  the  current  accounts  of  individuals ;  or  as  far  as  is  admis 
sible  without  a  violation  of  the  bank  charter. 

4.  The  said  bank  agrees  to  pay,  out  of  the  deposite  on  hand,  all 
warrants  or  drafts  which  may  be  drawn  upon  it  by  the  Treasurer 
of  the  United  States,  and  to  transfer  any  portion  of  that  deposite 
to  any  other  bank  or  banks  employed  by  the  Government  within 
the  United  States,  whenever  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  may 
require  it,  without  charge  to  the  Government  for  transportation  or 
difference  of  exchange,  commission,  or  any  thing  else  whatever; 
but  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  shall  give  a  reasonable  notice  of 
the  time  when  such  transfer  will  be  required. 

5.  The  said  bank  agrees  to  render  to  the  Government,  when- 


1833]  AMERICAN   ANTI-SLAVERY   SOCIETY  353 

ever  required  by  the  proper  authority,  all  or  any  portion  of  the 
services  now  performed  by  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  or 
which  might  be  lawfully  required  of  it  in  the  vicinity  of  said  con 
tracting  bank. 

6.  If  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  shall  think  proper  to  employ 
an  agent  or  agents  to  examine  and  report  upon  the  accounts  and 
condition  of  the  banks  in  the  service  of  the  Government,  or  any 
of  them,  the  said  bank  agrees  to  pay  an  equitable  proportion  of 
his  or  their  expenses  and  compensation,  according  to  such  appor 
tionment  as  may  be  made  by  the  said  Secretary. 

7.  Whenever  required  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  the 
said  bank  agrees  to  furnish,  with  all  convenient  despatch,  bills  of 
exchange  on  London,  payable  at  such  sight  as  may  be  required, 
at  the  usual  market  price  for  the  time  being,  without  commission 
or  advance  for  the  profit  of  said  bank,  or  any  charge  whatsoever 
beyond  the  actual  cost ;  the  payment  of  said  bills  to  be  guaranteed 
by  said  bank. 

8.  It  is  agreed  that  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  may  discharge 
the  said  bank  from  the  service  of  the  Government  whenever,  in  his 
opinion,  the  public  interest  may  require  it.     In  witness  whereof,  the 
said  The  Girard  Bank  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  has  caused  to  be 
affixed  its  corporate  seal,  attested  by  the  signatures  of  its  president 
and  cashier,  on  the  day  and  year  first  above  written. 

[L.S.]  JAS.  SCHOTT,  President. 

WM.  D.  LEWIS,  Cashier. 


No.  93.      Constitution  of  the  American 
Anti-Slavery  Society 

December  4,  1833 

A  CALL  for  a  convention  to  meet  Dec.  4,  1833,  at  Philadelphia,  to  form  an 
American  Anti-Slavery  Society,  was  issued  Oct.  29  over  the  signatures  of 
Arthur  Tappan,  Joshua  Leavitt,  and  Elizur  Wright,  Jr.,  officers  of  the  New 
York  City  Anti-Slavery  Society..  About  sixty  delegates  assembled  at  the 
appointed  time  and  adopted  a  constitution,  together  with  a  "Declaration  of 
Sentiments,"  the  original  draft  of  the  latter  being  drawn  by  William  Lloyd 
Garrison. 

2A 


354  AMERICAN    ANTI-SLAVERY   SOCIETY  [Dec.  4 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  a  pamphlet  entitled  Platform  of  the  American 
Anti-Slavery  Society  and  its  Auxiliaries  (New  York,  1855),  pp.  3,  4.  The 
fullest  account  of  the  convention  is  in  William  Lloyd  Garrison:  Story  of  his 
Life  told  by  his  Children,  I.,  392-415,  where  is  also  a  copy  of  the  Declaration 
The  Declaration  is  also  in  the  pamphlet  above  cited.  For  Whittier's  account, 
see  Atlantic  Monthly,  XXXIII.,  166-172  (February,  1874). 

Whereas  the  Most  High  God  "hath  made  of  one  blood  all 
nations  of  men  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth,"  and  hath 
commanded  them  to  love  their  neighbors  as  themselves;  and 
whereas,  our  National  Existence  is  based  upon  this  principle,  as 
recognized  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  "that  all  mankind 
are  created  equal,  and  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator 
with  certain  inalienable  rights,  among  which  are  life,  liberty,  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness " ;  and  whereas,  after  the  lapse  of  nearly 
sixty  years,  since  the  faith  and  honor  of  the  American  people  were 
pledged  to  this  avowal,  before  Almighty  God  and  the  World,  nearly 
one-sixth  part  of  the  nation  are  held  in  bondage  by  their  fellow- 
citizens;  and  wrhereas,  Slavery  is  contrary  to  the  principles  of 
natural  justice,  of  our  republican  form  of  government,  and  of  the 
Christian  religion,  and  is  destructive  of  the  prosperity  of  the 
country,  while  it  is  endangering  the  peace,  union,  and  liberties  of 
the  States ;  and  whereas,  we  believe  it  the  duty  and  interest  of  the 
masters  immediately  to  emancipate  their  slaves,  and  that  no  scheme 
of  expatriation,  either  voluntary  or  by  compulsion,  can  remove  this 
great  and  increasing  evil ;  and  whereas,  we  believe  that  it  is  prac 
ticable,  by  appeals  to  the  consciences,  hearts,  and  interests  of  the 
people,  to  awaken  a  public  sentiment  throughout  the  nation  that 
will  be  opposed  to  the  continuance  of  Slavery  in  any  part  of  the 
Republic,  and  by  effecting  the  speedy  abolition  of  Slavery,  prevent 
a  general  convulsion;  and  whereas,  we  believe  we  owe  it  to  the 
oppressed,  to  our  fellow-citizens  who  hold  slaves,  to  our  whole 
country,  to  posterity,  and  to  God,  to  do  all  that  is  lawfully  in  our 
power  to  bring  about  the  extinction  of  Slavery,  we  do  hereby  agree, 
with  a  prayerful  reliance  on  the  Divine  aid,  to  form  ourselves  into 
a  society,  to  be  governed  by  the  following  Constitution :  — 

ARTICLE  I.  —  This  Society  shall  be  called  the  AMERICAN  ANTI- 
SLAVERY  SOCIETY. 

ARTICLE  II.  —  The  objects  of  this  Society  are  the  entire  aboli 
tion  of  Slavery  in  the  United  States.  While  it  admits  that  each 


1836]  ACT  TO   REGULATE  THE   DEPOSITS  355 

State,  in  which  Slavery  exists,  has,  by  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  the  exclusive  right  to  legislate  in  regard  to  its 
abolition  in  said  State,  it  shall  aim  to  convince  all  our  fellow- 
citizens,  by  arguments  addressed  to  their  understandings  and  con 
sciences,  that  Slaveholding  is  a  heinous  crime  in  the  sight  of  God, 
and  that  the  duty,  safety,  and  best  interests  of  all  concerned, 
require  its  immediate  abandonment,  without  expatriation.  The 
Society  will  also  endeavor,  in  a  constitutional  way,  to  influence 
Congress  to  put  an  end  to  the  domestic  Slave  trade,  and  to  abolish 
Slavery  in  all  those  portions  of  our  common  country  which  come 
under  its  control,  especially  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  —  and 
likewise  to  prevent  the  extension  of  it  to  any  State  that  may  be 
hereafter  admitted  to  the  Union. 

ARTICLE  III.  —  This  Society  shall  aim  to  elevate  the  character 
and  condition  of  the  people  of  color,  by  encouraging  their  intel 
lectual,  moral,  and  religious  improvement,  and  by  removing  public 
prejudice,  that  thus  they  may,  according  to  their  intellectual  and 
moral  worth,  share  an  equality  with  the  whites,  of  civil  and  religious 
privileges;  but  this  Society  will  never,  in  any  way,  countenance 
the  oppressed  in  vindicating  their  rights  by  resorting  to  physical 
force. 

ARTICLE  IV.  —  Any  person  who  consents  to  the  principles  of 
this  Constitution,  who  contributes  to  the  funds  of  this  Society,  and 
is  not  a  Slaveholder,  may  be  a  member  of  this  Society,  and  shall 
be  entitled  to  vote  at  the  meetings. 

[The  remaining  six  articles  are  purely  formal.] 


No.  94.     Act  to  Regulate  the  Deposits 

June  23,   1836 

IN  his  annual  message  of  Dec.  7,  1835,  Jackson  announced  the  extinguish 
ment  of  the  national  debt,  and  renewed  the  recommendation  contained  in  his 
annual  message  of  Dec.  2,  1834,  that  suitable  regulation  of  the  public  deposits 
be  made.  In  the  Senate,  Dec.  29,  Calhoun  brought  in  a  bill  for  that  purpose, 
together  with  a  joint  resolution  "proposing  an  amendment  to  the  Constitu 
tion,  providing  for  a  distribution  of  the  surplus  revenues  among  the  several 
States  and  Territories,  until  the  year  1843."  The  joint  resolution  was  laid 
on  the  table  March  4.  The  bill  to  regulate  the  deposits  was  taken  up  April 


356  ACT  TO    REGULATE   THE   DEPOSITS  [June  23 

21,  and  debated  at  intervals  until  June  17,  when,  with  an  amendment  pro 
viding  for  the  distribution  of  the  surplus  revenue  among  the  States,  it  passed 
by  a  vote  of  39  to  6.  The  House  passed  the  bill  on  the  2ist,  by  a  vote  of 
155  to  38,  with  an  amendment  making  the  distributed  revenue  a  loan  to  the 
States,  instead  of  a  gift.  In  each  house  attempts  to  divide  the  measure  were 
unsuccessful.  The  Senate  concurred  in  the  House  amendment,  and  June  23 
the  act  was  approved.  A  bill  for  regulating  the  deposits  had  been  introduced 
in  the  House  March  21,  but  repeated  efforts  to  secure  its  consideration  failed. 
A  supplementary  act  of  July  4  authorized  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to 
make  transfers  of  the  public  money  from  the  banks  of  one  State  to  those  of 
another,  whenever  necessary  "to  prevent  large  and  inconvenient  accumu 
lations  in  particular  places,  or  in  order  to  produce  a  due  equality  and  just 
proportion."  Quarterly  payments  under  the  act  were  made  in  January, 
April,  and  July,  1837,  to  the  amount  of  $28,000,000;  after  that  there  was  ne 
longer  a  surplus,  and  the  distribution  ceased.  The  money  thus  loaned  to  the 
States  was  never  recalled. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  V.,  52-56.  For  the  proceed 
ings,  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  24th  Cong.,  ist  Sess. ;  for  the  discus 
sions,  see  Cong.  Debates,  or  Cong.  Globe,  or  Benton's  Abridgment,  XII.  Web 
ster's  speech  of  March  17,  on  the  deposit  banks,  is  in  his  Works  (ed.  1857), 
IV.,  235-237;  speech  of  May  31,  on  the  surplus  revenue,  ib.,  IV.,  252-264. 
For  Calhoun's  speech  of  May  28,  on  the  regulation  of  the  deposits,  see  his 
Works  (ed.  1857),  II.,  534-569.  The  treatment  of  the  surplus  and  public 
deposits  was  discussed  in  the  annual  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
Dec.  6,  1836.  Jackson,  in  his  annual  message  of  Dec.  5,  criticised  the  de 
posit  act  at  length.  See  further  Bourne's  History  of  the  Surplus  Revenue  oj 
1837- 

An  Act  to  regulate  the  deposites  of  the  public  money. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  to  select  as  soon  as  may  be  practicable  and  employ 
as  the  depositories  of  the  money  of  the  United  States,  such  of  the 
banks  incorporated  by  the  several  States,  by  Congress  for  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia,  or  by  the  Legislative  Councils  of  the  respective 
Territories  for  those  Territories,  as  may  be  located  at,  adjacent 
or  convenient  to  the  points  or  places  at  which  the  revenues  may  be 
collected,  or  disbursed,  and  in  those  States,  Territories  or  Dis 
tricts  in  which  there  are  no  banks,  and  within  which  the  public 
collections  or  disbursements  require  a  depository,  the  said  Sec 
retary  may  make  arrangements  with  a  bank  or  banks,  in  some 
other  State,  Territory  or  District,  to  establish  an  agency,  or  agencies, 
in  the  States,  Territories  or  Districts  so  destitute  of  banks,  as  banks 
of  deposite;  and  to  receive  through  such  agencies  such  deposites 
of  the  public  money,  as  may  be  directed  to  be  made  at  the  points 


1836]  ACT   TO   REGULATE  THE   DEPOSITS  357 

designated,  and  to  make  such  disbursements  as  the  public  service 
may  require  at  those  points;  the  duties  and  liabilities  of  every 
bank  thus  establishing  any  such  agency  to  be  the  same  in  respect 
to  its  agency,  as  are  the  duties  and  liabilities  of  deposit  banks 
generally  under  the  provisions  of  this  act :  Provided,  That  at  least 
one  such  bank  shall  be  selected  in  each  State  and  Territory,  if 
any  can  be  found  in  each  State  and  Territory  willing  to  be  em 
ployed  as  depositories  of  the  public  money,  upon  the  terms  and 
conditions  hereinafter  prescribed,  and  continue  to  conform  thereto ; 
and  that  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  shall  not  suffer  to  remain 
in  any  deposite  bank,  an  amount  of  the  public  moneys  more 
than  equal  to  three-fourths  of  the  amount  of  its  capital  stock 
actually  paid  in,  for  a  longer  time  than  may  be  necessary  to  enable 
him  to  make  the  transfers  required  by  the  twelfth  section  of  this 
act;  and  that  the  banks  so  selected,  shall  be,  in  his  opinion,  safe 
depositories  of  the  public  money,  and  shall  be  willing  to  undertake 
to  do  and  perform  the  several  duties  and  services,  and  to  conform 
to  the  several  conditions  proscribed  by  this  act. 

******** 

SEC.  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted.  That  the  said  banks,  before 
they  shall  be  employed  as  the  depositories  of  the  public  money, 
shall  agree  to  receive  the  same,  upon  the  following  terms  and 
conditions,  to  wit: 

First.  Each  bank  shall  furnish  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
from  time  to  time,  as  often  as  he  may  require,  riot  exceeding  once 
a  week,  statements  setting  forth  its  condition  and  business  .  .  . 
And  the  said  banks  shall  furnish  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
and  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  United  States,  a  weekly  statement  of 
the  condition  of  his  account  upon  their  books.  And  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  shall  have  the  right,  by  himself,  or  an  agent  ap 
pointed  for  that  purpose,  to  inspect  such  general  accounts  in  the 
books  of  the  bank,  as  shall  relate  to  the  said  statements:  Pro 
vided,  That  this  shall  not  be  construed  to  imply  a  right  of  inspecting 
the  account  of  any  private  individual  or  individuals  with  the  bank. 

Secondly.  To  credit  as  specie,  all  sums  deposited  therein  to 
the  credit  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  United  States,  and  to  pay  all 
checks,  warrants,  or  drafts,  drawn  on  such  deposites,  in  specie  if 
required  by  the  holder  thereof. 

Thirdly.     To  give,  whenever  required  by  the  Secretary  of  the 


358  SURPLUS   REVENUE  [June  ^ 

Treasury,  the  necessary  facilities  for  transferring  the  public  funds 
from  place  to  place,  within  the  United  States,  and  the  Territories 
thereof,  and  for  distributing  the  same  in  payment  of  the  public 
creditors,  without  charging  commissions  or  claiming  allowance  on 
account  of  difference  of  exchange. 

Fourthly.  To  render  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
all  the  duties  and  services  heretofore  required  by  law  to  be  per 
formed  by  the  late  Bank  of  the  United  States  and  its  several 
branches  or  offices. 

SEC.  5.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  no  bank  shall  be  selected 
or  continued  as  a  place  of  deposite  of  the  public  money  which 
shall  not  redeem  its  notes  and  bills  on  demand  in  specie.  .  .  . 


SEC.  13.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  money  which 
shall  be  in  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States,  on  ...  [January  i, 
1837],  .  .  .  ,  reserving  the  sum  of  five  millions  of  dollars,  shall  be 
deposited  with  such  of  the  several  States,  in  proportion  to  their 
respective  representation  in  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa 
tives  of  the  United  States,  as  shall,  by  law,  authorize  their  Treas 
urers,  or  other  competent  authorities  to  receive  the  same  on  the 
terms  hereinafter  specified;  .  .  .  which  certificates  shall  express 
the  usual  and  legal  obligations,  and  pledge  the  faith  of  the  State, 
for  the  safe  keeping  and  repayment  thereof,  and  shall  pledge 
the  faith  of  the  States  receiving  the  same,  to  pay  the  said  moneys, 
and  every  part  thereof,  from  time  to  time,  whenever  the  same 
shall  be  required,  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  for  the  pur 
pose  of  defraying  any  wants  of  the  public  treasury,  beyond  the 
amount  of  the  five  millions  aforesaid:  .  .  .  provided  .  .  .  ,  That 
when  said  money,  or  any  part  thereof,  shall  be  wanted  by  the  said 
Secretary,  to  meet  appropriations  by  law,  the  same  shall  be  called 
for,  in  rateable  proportions,  within  one  year,  as  nearly  as  con 
veniently  may  be,  from  the  different  States,  with  which  the  same 
is  deposited,  and  shall  not  be  called  for,  in  sums  exceeding  ten 
thousand  dollars,  from  any  one  State,  in  any  one  month,  without 
previous  notice  of  thirty  days,  for  every  additional  sum  of  twenty 
thousand  dollars,  which  may  at  any  time  be  required. 

SEC.  14.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  said  deposites  shall 
be  made  with  the  said  States  in  the  following  proportions,  and  at 


1836]  SPECIE   CIRCULAR  359 

the  following  times,  to  wit :  one  quarter  part  on  .  .  .  [January  i. 
1837],  ...  or  as  soon  thereafter  as  may  be;  one  quarter  part 
on  the  first  day  of  April,  one  quarter  part  on  the  first  day  of  July, 
and  one  quarter  part  on  the  first  day  of  October,  all  in  the  same 
year. 

******** 


No.  95.     Specie  Circular 

July   n,   1836 

ONE  effect  of  the  speculative  fever  which  began  early  in  1835  was  an 
enormous  increase  in  the  sales  of  the  public  lands.  By  law,  payments  for 
lands  could  be  made  only  in  gold  and  silver,  or  in  notes  of  specie  paying 
banks ;  but  a  large  part  of  the  payments  was  in  fact  made  in  State  bank  notes, 
which  in  the  West  had  largely  driven  specie  out  of  circulation.  The  United 
States  thus  found  that  the  public  domain  was  being  disposed  of  for  a  currency 
of  doubtful  or  more  than  doubtful  value.  The  subject  of  the  coinage  had 
been  before  Congress  since  1834,  and  Jackson  had  declared  himself  in  favor 
of  gold  and  silver  as  the  "true  constitutional  currency."  April  23,  1836, 
Benton  moved  that  thereafter  "nothing  but  gold  and  silver  coin  ought  to  be 
received  in  payment  for  public  lands."  The  motion  was  tabled,  and  the  ses 
sion  ended  without  action.  July  n,  by  direction  of  the  President,  the  so- 
called  specie  circular  was  issued.  An  inquiry  into  the  effect  of  the  circular  was 
moved  by  Benton  Jan.  12,  1837,  and  a  bill  "designating  and  limiting  the 
funds  receivable  for  the  revenues  of  the  United  States"  passed  the  Senate 
Feb.  10,  by  a  vote  of  41  to  5,  and  the  House  March  i,  without  a  division, 
but  was  vetoed  by  the  President.  By  a  joint  resolution  approved  May  21, 
1838,  it  was  declared  unlawful  for  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  "to  make 
or  to  continue  in  force,  any  general  order,  which  shall  create  any  difference 
between  the  different  branches  of  revenue,  as  to  the  money  or  medium 
of  payment,  in  which  debts  or  dues,  accruing  to  the  United  States,  may 
be  paid." 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Senate  Doc.  2,  24th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  p.  96.  The 
reasons  for  the  circular  were  discussed  by  Jackson  in  his  annual  message 
of  Dec.  5,  1836.  Wright's  report  of  May  16,  1838,  is  Senate  Doc.  445,  25th 
Cong.,  2d  Sess.  Webster's  speech  of  April  23,  1836,  on  Benton's  motion, 
is  in  his  Works  (ed.  1857),  IV.,  238-246;  for  his  speech  of  Dec.  21  on  the 
circular,  ib.,  IV.,  265-291.  See  also  Benton's  Thirty  Years'  View,  I.,  chaps. 
146,  156.  Jackson's  statement  of  reasons  for  not  signing  the  bill  of  1837, 
with  an  accompanying  opinion  of  the  Attorney-General,  is  in  Niles's  Register, 
UL,  26,  27, 


360  SPECIE   CIRCULAR  [July  n 

Circular  to  Receivers  of  Public  Money,  and  to  the  Deposite  Banks 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  July  n,  1836 

IN  consequence  of  complaints  which  have  been  made  of  frauds, 
speculations,  and  monopolies,  in  the  purchase  of  the  public  lands, 
and  the  aid  which  is  said  to  be  given  to  effect  these  objects  by 
excessive  bank  credits,  and  dangerous  if  not  partial  facilities 
through  bank  drafts  and  bank  deposites,  and  the  general  evil  influ 
ence  likely  to  result  to  the  public  interests,  and  especially  the 
safety  of  the  great  amount  of  money  in  the  Treasury,  and  the 
sound  condition  of  the  currency  of  the  country,  from  the  further 
exchange  c:  the  national  domain  in  this  manner,  the  President  of 
the  United  States  has  given  directions,  and  you  are  hereby  in 
structed,  after  the  i5th  day  of  August  next,  to  receive  in  payment 
of  the  public  lands  nothing  except  what  is  directed  by  the  existing 
laws,  viz:  gold  and  silver,  and  in  the  proper  cases,  Virginia  land 
scrip;  provided  that  till  the  i5th  of  December  next,  the  same 
indulgences  heretofore  extended  as  to  the  kind  of  money  re 
ceived,  may  be  continued  for  any  quantity  of  land  not  exceeding 
320  acres  to  each  purchaser  who  is  an  actual  settler  or  bona  fide 
resident  in  the  State  where  the  sales  are  made. 

In  order  to  ensure  the  faithful  execution  of  these  instructions, 
all  receivers  are  strictly  prohibited  from  accepting  for  land  sold, 
any  draft,  certificate,  or  other  evidence  of  money,  or  deposite, 
though  for  specie,  unless  signed  by  the  Treasurer  of  the  United 
States,  in  conformity  to  the  act  of  April  24,  1820.  .  .  . 

The  principal  objects  of  the  President  in  adopting  this  measure 
being  to  repress  alleged  frauds,  and  to  withhold  any  countenance 
or  facilities  in  the  power  of  the  Government  from  the  monopoly 
of  the  public  lands  in  the  hands  of  speculators  and  capitalists,  to 
the  injury  of  the  actual  settlers  in  the  new  States,  and  of  emigrants 
in  search  of  new  homes,  as  well  as  to  discourage  the  ruinous 
extension  of  bank  issues,  and  bank  credits,  by  which  those  results 
are  generally  supposed  to  be  promoted,  your  utmost  vigilance 
is  required,  and  relied  on,  to  carry  this  order  into  complete 
execution. 

LEVI  WOODBURY, 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 


1842]  ASHBURTON  TREATY  361 


No.  96.     Treaty  with  Great  Britain 

August  9,  1842 

THE  determination  of  the  northeastern  boundary  of  the  United  States, 
first  defined  by  the  treaty  of  1783,  had  been  the  subject  of  frequent  diplo 
matic  correspondence  and  international  agreements.  So  much  of  the  boun 
dary  as  had  to  do  with  the  St.  Croix  River  and  its  source  had  been  fixed  by 
commissioners  under  the  treaty  of  1794,  but  the  claims  to  the  "highlands" 
were  still  unsettled.  In  1831  the  award  of  the  king  of  the  Netherlands,  under 
the  convention  of  1827,  had  been  rejected  by  both  Great  Britain  and  the 
United  States.  "In  1838-9  the  territory  between  New  Brunswick  and 
Maine,  claimed  by  both  parties,  became  the  scene  of  a  small  border  war. 
Maine  raised  an  armed  posse,  erected  forts  along  the  line  which  she  claimed 
as  the  true  one,  and  the  legislature  placed  $800,000  at  the  governor's  dis 
posal  for  the  defence  of  the  State;  an  act  of  Congress,  March  3,  1839,  author 
ized  the  President  to  resist  any  attempt  of  Great  Britain  to  enforce  exclusive 
jurisdiction  over  the  disputed  territory,  and  armed  conflict  was  only  averted 
by  the  mediation  of  Gen.  Scott,  who  arranged  a  truce  and  a  joint  occupation 
by  both  parties"  (Johnston).  In  addition  to  the  question  of  boundary, 
differences  had  also  arisen  between  the  two  countries  over  the  attempted 
participation  of  Americans  in  the  Canadian  rebellion  of  1837,  and  in  regard 
to  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade.  Early  in  1842  Lord  Ashburton  was 
sent  to  the  United  States  as  special  envoy,  and  Aug.  9  the  treaty  usually 
known  by  his  name  was  concluded.  October  13  ratifications  were  exchanged 
at  London,  and  Nov.  10  the  treaty  was  proclaimed.  By  act  of  March  3, 
1843,  provision  was  made  for  carrying  the  treaty  into  effect. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  VIII. ,  572-577.  The  diplo 
matic  correspondence,  including  that  with  Maine  and  New  Hampshire,  is 
in  House  Exec.  Doc.  2,  27th  Cong.,  3d  Sess.;  also  Cong.  Globe,  4-21.  The 
treaty  was  adversely  criticised  in  Congress  in  1846,  in  the  discussions  over 
the  treaty  of  Washington ;  Webster's  speech  of  April  6  and  7  gives  a  full 
account  of  the  negotiations.  The  speech  is  in  the  Cong.  Globe,  29th  Cong., 
ist  Sess.,  and  also  Webster's  Works  (ed.  1857),  V.,  78-147.  Calhoun's 
speech  on  the  treaty  is  in  his  Works  (ed.  1854),  IV.,  212-237.  Contrasted 
English  views  may  be  seen  in  the  Quarterly  Rev.,  LXXI.,  560-595,  and 
Westm.  Rev.,  XXXIX.,  83-107.  See  also  Wharton's  Intern.  Law  Digest 
(ed.  1887),  II.,  175-183;  Senate  Doc.,  500,  27th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.  The  act 
of  March  3,  1843,  t°  carry  the  treaty  into  effect  is  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  V., 
623. 

******** 

ARTICLE  I. 

It  is  hereby  agreed  and  declared  that  the  line  of  boundary 
shall  be  as  follows:  Beginning  at  the  monument  at  the  source  of 


362  ASHBURTON  TREATY  August  ^ 

the  river  St.  Croix  as  designated  and  agreed  to  by  the  commis 
sioners  under  the  fifth  article  of  the  treaty  of  1794,  between  the 
Governments  of  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain;  thence, 
north,  following  the  exploring  line  run  and  marked  by  the  sur 
veyors  of  the  two  Governments  in  the  years  1817  and  1818,  under 
the  fifth  article  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  to  its  intersection  with  the 
river  St.  John,  and  to  the  middle  of  the  channel  thereof;  thence, 
up  the  middle  of  the  main  channel  of  the  said  river  St.  John, 
to  the  mouth  of  the  river  St.  Francis;  thence,  up  the  middle  of 
the  channel  of  the  said  river  St.  Francis,  and  of  the  lakes  through 
which  it  flows,  to  the  outlet  of  the  Lake  Pohenagamook ;  thence, 
southwesterly,  in  a  straight  line,  to  a  point  on  the  northwest 
branch  of  the  river  St.  John,  which  point  shall  be  ten  miles  dis 
tant  from  the  main  branch  of  the  St.  John,  in  a  straight  line,  and 
in  the  nearest  direction — but  if  the  said  point  shall  be  found  to 
be  less  than  seven  miles  from  the  nearest  point  of  the  summit  or 
crest  of  the  highlands  that  divide  those  rivers  which  empty  them 
selves  into  the  river  St.  Lawrence  from  those  which  fall  into 
the  river  St.  John,  then  the  said  point  shall  be  made  to  recede 
down  the  said  northwest  branch  of  the  river  St.  John,  to  a  point 
seven  miles  in  a  straight  line  from  the  said  summit  or  crest; 
thence,  in  a  straight  line,  in  a  course  about  south,  eight  degrees 
west,  to  the  point  where  the  parallel  of  latitude  of  46°  25'  north 
intersects  the  southwest  branch  of  the  St.  John's;  thence,  south 
erly,  by  the  said  branch,  to  the  source  thereof  in  the  highlands  at 
the  Metjarmette  portage ;  thence,  down  along  the  said  highlands 
which  divide  the  waters  which  empty  themselves  into  the  river 
St.  Lawrence  from  those  which  fall  into  the  Atlantic  ocean,  to 
the  head  of  Hall's  stream;  thence,  down  the  middle  of  said 
stream,  till  the  line  thus  run  intersects  the  old  line  of  boundary 
surveyed  and  marked  by  Valentine  and  Collins,  previously  to  the 
year  1774,  as  the  45th  degree  of  north  latitude,  and  which  has 
been  known  and  understood  to  be  the  line  of  actual  division 
between  the  States  of  New  York  and  Vermont  on  one  side,  and 
the  British  province  of  Canada  on  the  other;  and  from  said 
point  of  intersection,  west,  along  the  said  dividing  line,  as  here 
tofore  known  and  understood,  to  the  Iroquois  or  St.  Lawrence 
river. 


1842]  ASHBURTON   TREATY  363 


ARTICLE  IL 

It  is  moreover  agreed,  that,  from  the  place  where  the  joint 
commissioners  terminated  their  labors  under  the  sixth  article  of 
the  treaty  of  Ghent,  to  wit:  at  a  point  in  the  Neebish  channel, 
near  Muddy  Lake,  the  line  shall  run  into  and  along  the  ship 
channel  between  St.  Joseph  and  St.  Tammany  islands,  to  the 
division  of  the  channel  at  or  near  the  head  of  St.  Joseph's  island; 
thence,  turning  eastwardly  and  northwardly  around  the  lower  end 
of  St.  George's  or  Sugar  island,  and  following  the  middle  of  the 
channel  which  divides  St.  George's  from  St.  Joseph's  island; 
thence  up  the  east  Neebish  channel,  nearest  to  St.  George's 
island,  through  the  middle  of  Lake  George;  thence,  west  of 
Jonas'  island,  into  St.  Mary's  river,  to  a  point  in  the  middle  of 
that  river,  about  one  mile  above  St.  George's  or  Sugar  island, 
so  as  to  appropriate  and  assign  the  said  island  to  the  United 
States;  thence,  adopting  the  line  traced  on  the  maps  by  the 
commissioners,  through  the  river  St.  Mary  and  Lake  Superior,  to  a 
point  north  of  He  Royale,  in  said  lake,  one  hundred  yards  to  the 
north  and  east  of  He  Chapeau,  which  last-mentioned  island  lies 
near  the  northeastern  point  of  He  Royale,  where  the  line  marked 
by  the  commissioners  terminates;  and  from  the  last-mentioned 
point,  southwesterly,  through  the  middle  of  the  sound  between  He 
Royale  and  the  northwestern  main  land,  to  the  mouth  of  Pigeon 
river,  and  up  the  said  river,  to  and  through  the  north  and  south 
Fowl  Lakes,  to  the  lakes  of  the  height  of  land  between  Lake 
Superior  and  the  Lake  of  the  Woods ;  thence,  along  the  water  com 
munication  to  Lake  Saisaginaga,  and  through  that  lake;  thence, 
to  and  through  Cypress  Lake,  Lac  du  Bois  Blanc,  Lac  la  Croix, 
Little  Vermilion  Lake,  and  Lake  Namecan,  and  through  the  several 
smaller  lakes,  straits,  or  streams,  connecting  the  lakes  here  men 
tioned,  to  that  point  in  Lac  la  Pluie,  or  Rainy  Lake,  at  the  Chaudi- 
ere  Falls,  from  which  the  commissioners  traced  the  line  to  the 
most  northwestern  point  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods;  thence, 
along  the  said  line,  to  the  said  most  northwestern  point,  being 
in  latitude  49°  23'  55"  north,  and  in  longitude  95°  14'  38"  west 
from  the  observatory  at  Greenwich ;  thence,  according  to  existing 
treaties,  due  south  to  its  intersection  with  the  49th  parallel  of 


364  ASHBURTON   TREATY  [August  9 

north  latitude,  and  along  that  parallel  to  the  Rocky  mountains. 
It  being  understood  that  all  the  water  communications  and  all  the 
usual  portages  along  the  line  from  Lake  Superior  to  the  Lake 
of  the  Woods,  and  also  Grand  portage,  from  the  shore  of  Lake 
Superior  to  the  Pigeon  river,  as  now  actually  used,  shall  be  free 
and  open  to  the  use  of  the  citizens  and  subjects  of  both  countries. 

ARTICLE    III. 

In  order  to  promote  the  interests  and  encourage  the  industry 
of  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  countries  watered  by  the  river  St. 
John  and  its  tributaries,  whether  living  within  the  State  of  Maine 
or  the  province  of  New  Brunswick,  it  is  agreed  that,  where,  by 
the  provisions  of  the  present  treaty,  the  river  St.  John  is  declared 
to  be  the  line  of  boundary,  the  navigation  of  the  said  river  shall 
be  free  and  open  to  both  parties,  and  shall  in  no  way  be  obstructed 
by  either;  that  all  the  produce  of  the  forest,  in  logs,  lumber, 
timber,  boards,  staves,  or  shingles,  or  of  agriculture,  not  being 
manufactured,  grown  on  any  of  those  parts  of  the  State  of  Maine 
watered  by  the  river  St.  John,  or  by  its  tributaries,  of  which  fact 
reasonable  evidence  shall,  if  required,  be  produced,  shall  have 
free  access  into  and  through  the  said  river  and  its  said  tributaries, 
having  their  source  within  the  State  of  Maine,  to  and  from  the 
seaport  at  the  mouth  of  the  said  river  St.  John's,  and  to  and 
round  the  falls  of  the  said  river,  either  by  boats,  rafts,  or  other 
conveyance;  that  when  within  the  province  of  New  Brunswick, 
the  said  produce  shall  be  dealt  with  as  if  it  were  the  produce 
of  the  said  province ;  that,  in  like  manner,  the  inhabitants  of  the 
territory  of  the  upper  St.  John,  determined  by  this  treaty  to  belong 
to  Her  Britannic  Majesty,  shall  have  free  access  to  and  through 
the  river,  for  their  produce,  in  those  parts  where  the  said  river 
runs  wholly  through  the  State  of  Maine :  Provided,  always,  That 
this  agreement  shall  give  no  right  to  either  party  to  interfere  with 
any  regulations  not  inconsistent  with  the  terms  of  this  treaty 
which  the  Governments,  respectively,  of  Maine  or  of  New  Bruns 
wick  may  make  respecting  the  navigation  of  the  said  river,  where 
both  banks  thereof  shall  belong  to  the  same  party. 


18421  ASHBURTON   TREATY  365 


ARTICLE    IV. 

All  grants  of  land  heretofore  made  by  either  party,  within  the 
limits  of  the  territory  which  by  this  treaty  falls  within  the  domin 
ions  of  the  other  party,  shall  be  held  valid,  ratified,  and  confirmed 
to  the  persons  in  possession  under  such  grants,  to  the  same  extent 
as  if  such  territory  had  by  this  treaty  fallen  within  the  dominions 
of  the  party  by  whom  such  grants  were  made;  and  all  equitable 
possessory  claims,  arising  from  a  possession  and  improvement,  of 
any  lot  or  parcel  of  land,  by  the  person  actually  in  possession,  or 
by  those  under  whom  such  person  claims,  for  more  than  six  years 
before  the  date  of  this  treaty,  shall,  in  like  manner,  be  deemed 
valid,  and  be  confirmed  and  quieted  by  a  release  to  the  person 
entitled  thereto,  of  the  title  to  such  lot  or  parcel  of  land,  so  de 
scribed  as  best  to  include  the  improvements  made  thereon ;  and  in 
all  other  respects  the  two  contracting  parties  agree  to  deal  upon 
the  most  liberal  principles  of  equity  with  the  settlers  actually 
dwelling  upon  the  territory  falling  to  them,  respectively,  which  has 
heretofore  been  in  dispute  between  them. 

ARTICLE    V. 

Whereas,  in  the  course  of  the  controversy  respecting  the  disputed 
territory  on  the  Northeastern  boundary,  some  moneys  have  been 
received  by  the  authorities  of  Her  Britannic  Majesty's  province 
of  New  Brunswick,  with  the  intention  of  preventing  depredations 
on  the  forests  of  the  said  territory,  which  moneys  were  to  be 
carried  to  a  fund  called  the  "disputed  territory  fund,"  the  proceeds 
whereof,  it  was  agreed,  should  be  hereafter  paid  over  to  the  parties 
interested,  in  the  proportions  to  be  determined  by  a  final  settle 
ment  of  boundaries :  It  is  hereby  agreed,  that  a  correct  account  of 
all  receipts  and  payments  on  the  said  fund  shall  be  delivered  to 
the  Government  of  the  United  States,  within  six  months  after  the 
ratification  of  this  treaty;  and  the  proportion  of  the  amount  due 
thereon  to  the  States  of  Maine  and  Massachusetts,  and  any  bonds 
or  securities  appertaining  thereto,  shall  be  paid  and  delivered  over 
to  the  Government  of  the  United  States;  and  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  agrees  to  receive  for  the  use  of,  and  pay  over 
to,  the  States  of  Maine  and  Massachusetts,  their  respective  por- 


366  ASHBURTON  TREATY  [August  9 

tions  of  said  fund;  and  further  to  pay  and  satisfy  said  States, 
respectively,  for  all  claims  for  expenses  incurred  by  them  in  pro 
tecting  the  said  heretofore  disputed  territory,  and  making  a  survey 
thereof,  in  1838;  the  Government  of  the  United  States  agreeing, 
with  the  States  of  Maine  and  Massachusetts,  to  pay  them  the 
further  sum  of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars,  in  equal  moieties, 
on  account  of  their  assent  to  the  line  of  boundary  described  in 
this  treaty,  and  in  consideration  of  the  conditions  and  equiva 
lents  received  therefor,  from  the  Government  of  Her  Britannic 
Majesty. 

[Art.  VI.  provides  for  the  appointment  of  two  commissioners  to 
mark  the  boundary  between  the  St.  Croix  and  the  St.  Lawrence.] 

ARTICLE  VII. 

It  is  further  agreed,  that  the  channels  in  the  river  St.  Lawrence, 
on  both  sides  of  the  Long  Sault  islands,  and  of  Barnhart  island; 
the  channels  in  the  river  Detroit,  on  both  sides  of  the  island  Bois 
Blanc,  and  between  that  island  and  both  the  American  and  Cana 
dian  shores ;.  and  all  the  several  channels  and  passages  between  the 
various  islands  lying  near  the  junction  of  the  river  St.  Clair  with 
the  lake  of  that  name,  shall  be  equally  free  and  open  to  the  ships,' 
vessels,  and  boats  of  both  parties. 

ARTICLE  VIII. 

The  parties  mutually  stipulate  that  each  shall  prepare,  equip, 
and  maintain  in  service,  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  a  sufficient  and 
adequate  squadron,  or  naval  force  of  vessels,  of  suitable  numbers 
and  descriptions,  to  carry  in  all  not  less  than  eighty  guns,  to 
enforce,  separately  and  respectively,  the  laws,  rights,  and  obliga 
tions,  of  each  of  the  two  countries,  for  the  suppression  of  the  slave 
trade;  the  said  squadrons  to  be  independent  of  each  other;  but 
the  two  Governments  stipulating,  nevertheless,  to  give  sucL  orders 
to  the  officers  commanding  their  respective  forces  as  shall  enable 
them  most  effectually  to  act  in  concert  and  co-operation,  upon 
mutual  consultation,  as  exigencies  may  arise,  for  the  attainment 
of  the  true  object  of  this  article ;  copies  of  all  such  orders  to  be 
communicated  by  each  Government  to  the  other,  respectively. 


1842]  ASHBURTON   TREATY  367 

ARTICLE  IX. 

Whereas,  notwithstanding  all  efforts  which  may  be  made  on  the 
coast  of  Africa  for  suppressing  the  slave  trade,  the  facilities  for 
carrying  on  that  traffic,  and  avoiding  the  vigilance  of  cruisers,  by 
the  fraudulent  use  of  flags  and  other  means,  are  so  great,  and  the 
temptations  for  pursuing  it,  while  a  market  can  be  found  for  slaves, 
so  strong,  as  that  the  desired  result  may  be  long  delayed,  unless 
all  markets  be  shut  against  the  purchase  of  African  negroes ;  the 
parties  to  this  treaty  agree  that  they  will  unite  in  all  becoming 
representations  and  remonstrances,  with  any  and  all  Powers  within 
whose  dominions  such  markets  are  allowed  to  exist ;  and  that  they 
will  urge  upon  all  such  Powers  the  propriety  and  duty  of  closing 
such  markets  effectually,  at  once  and  forever. 

ARTICLE  X. 

It  is  agreed  that  the  United  States  and  Her  Britannic  Majesty 
shall,  upon  mutual  requisitions  by  them,  or  their  ministers,  officers, 
or  authorities  respectively  made,  deliver  up  to  justice  all  persons 
who,  being  charged  with  the  crime  of  murder,  or  assault  with 
intent  to  commit  murder,  or  piracy,  or  arson,  or  robbery,  or 
forgery,  or  the  utterance  of  forged  paper,  committed  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  either,  shall  seek  an  asylum,  or  shall  be  found,  within 
the  territories  of  the  other:  provided  that  this  shall  only  be  done 
upon  such  evidence  of  criminality  as  according  to  the  laws  of  the 
place  where  the  fugitive  or  person  so  charged  shall  be  found, 
would  justify  his  apprehension  and  commitment  for  trial,  if  the 
crime  or  offence  had  there  been  committed:  and  the  respective 
judges  and  other  magistrates  of  the  two  Governments  shall  have 
power,  jurisdiction,  and  authority,  upon  complaint  made  under 
oath,  to  issue  a  warrant  for  the  apprehension  of  the  fugitive  or 
person  so  charged,  that  he  may  be  brought  before  such  judges  or 
other  magistrates,  respectively,  to  the  end  that  the  evidence  of 
criminality  may  be  heard  and  considered ;  and  if,  on  such  hearing, 
the  evidence  be  deemed  sufficient  to  sustain  the  charge,  it  shall 
be  the  duty  of  the  examining  judge  or  magistrate  to  certify  the 
same  to  the  proper  Executive  authority,  that  a  warrant  may  issue 
for  the  surrender  of  such  fugitive.  The  expense  of  such  appre- 


368  ANNEXATION   OF   TEXAS  [March  i 

hension  and  delivery  shall  be  borne  and  defrayed  by  the  party 
who  makes  the  requisition,  and  receives  the  fugitive. 

ARTICLE  XI. 

The  eighth  article  of  this  treaty  shall  be  in  force  for  five  years 
from  the  date  of  the  exchange  of  the  ratifications,  and  afterwards 
until  one  or  the  other  party  shall  signify  a  wish  to  terminate  it. 
The  tenth  article  shall  continue  in  force  until  one  or  the  other  of 
the  parties  shall  signify  its  wish  to  terminate  it,  and  no  longer. 
*  *  *  *  *  *  #  #  i 


No.  97.     Joint    Resolution   for    the   Annex 
ation  of  Texas 

March  i,  1845 

IN  iw2i  the  United  States  of  Mexico,  until  then  a  part  of  the  Spanish  pos 
sessions  in  America,  became  independent.  The  provinces  of  Coahuila  and 
Texas  were  united  as  a  State,  and  in  1827  formed  a  constitution.  In  1835 
the  State  declared  its  independence  of  Mexico,  and  in  1836  proclaimed  itself 
the  Republic  of  Texas.  The  independence  of  Texas  was  acknowledged  in 
1837  by  the  United  States,  Great  Britain,  France,  and  Belgium,  but  not  by 
Mexico;  and  in  1838  a  treaty  for  marking  the  boundary  between  Texas  and 
the  United  States  was  concluded  at  Washington.  As  early  as  1821  attempts 
had  been  made  by  Americans  from  the  southern  States  to  gain  a  foothold  in 
Texas;  but  propositions  by  the  United  States  in  1827  and  1829  to  purchase 
Texas  were  not  accepted,  and  in  1830  "orders  were  issued  to  prevent  any 
further  emigration  from  the  United  States."  From  1843  onward  annexation 
became  a  prominent  question,  advocated  chiefly  in  the  South.  In  1844,  how 
ever,  both  Van  Buren  and  Clay,  respectively  the  leading  Democratic  and 
Whig  candidates  for  the  presidency,  declared  against  it,  and  a  treaty  for 
annexation,  concluded  April  12,  1844,  was  rejected  by  the  Senate.  The  elec 
tion  of  Polk  was  regarded  as  a  victory  for  the  annexation  policy.  Decem 
ber  12,  1844,  Ingersoll  of  Pennsylvania,  chairman  of  the  House  Com 
mittee  on  Foreign  Affairs,  reported  a  joint  resolution  for  annexation,  which 
passed  the  House  Jan.  25,  by  a  vote  of  120  to  98.  February  4,  in  the  Senate, 
Archer  of  Virginia,  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  to 
which  had  been  referred  the  resolution  of  the  House,  together  with  several 
similar  propositions  originating  in  the  Senate,  made  a  report  recommending 
the  rejection  of  the  House  resolution.  The  resolution  was,  however,  taken 

1  Signed:  "Danl.  Webster,  Ashburton."  —  ED. 


1845]  ANNEXATION   OF  TEXAS  369 

up  by  the  Senate  Feb.  13,  and  considered  daily  until  the  27th,  when  it  passed, 
in  an  amended  form,  without  a  division,  the  vote  on  the  third  reading  being 
27  to  25.  On  the  28th,  by  a  vote  of  134  to  77,  the  House  concurred  in  the 
Senate  amendments,  and  March  i  the  resolution  was  approved.  The  terms 
proposed  were  agreed  to  by  the  Congress  of  Texas  June  18,  and  by  a  con 
vention  at  Austin  July  4.  A  State  constitution  wao  ratified  Oct.  13,  by  popu 
lar  vote,  and  by  joint  resolution  of  Dec.  29  Texas  was  admitted  as  a  State. 
The  area  acquired  by  the  annexation  was  371,063  square  miles. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  V.,  797,  798.  For  the  pro 
ceedings  of  Congress,  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  28th  Cong.,  2d 
Sess.;  for  the  debates,  see  the  Cong.  Globe,  or  Benton's  Abridgment,  XV. 
For  the  diplomatic  correspondence,  etc.,  see  Senate  Doc.  i,  13  and  30,  28th 
Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  and  Senate  Doc.  i,  29th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.  Archer's  report 
is  Senate  Doc.  79,  28th  Cong.,  2d  Sess. 

Joint  Resolution  for  annexing  Texas  to  the  United  States. 

Resolved  .  .  .  ,  That  Congress  doth  consent  that  the  territory 
properly  included  within,  and  rightfully  belonging  to  the  Republic 
of  Texas,  may  be  erected  into  a  new  State,  to  be  called  the  State 
of  Texas,  with  a  republican  form  of  government,  to  be  adopted  by 
the  people  of  said  republic,  by  deputies  in  convention  assembled, 
with  the  consent  of  the  existing  government,  in  order  that  the 
same  may  be  admitted  as  one  of  the  States  of  this  Union. 

2.  And  be  it  further  resolved,  That  the  foregoing  consent  of 
Congress  is  given  upon  the  following  conditions,  and  with  the 
following  guarantees,  to  wit :  First,  Said  State  to  be  formed,  sub 
ject  to  the  adjustment  by  this  government  of  all  questions  of 
boundary  that  may  arise  with  other  governments;  and  the  con 
stitution  thereof,  with  the  proper  evidence  of  its  adoption  by  the 
people  of  said  Republic  of  Texas,  shall  be  transmitted  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  to  be  laid  before  Congress  for 
its  final  action,  on  or  before  the  first  day  of  January,  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty-six.  Second,  Said  State, 
when  admitted  into  the  Union,  after  ceding  to  the  United 
States,  all  public  edifices,  fortifications,  barracks,  ports  and 
harbors,  navy  and  navy-yards,  docks,  magazines,  arms,  arma 
ments,  and  all  other  property  and  means  pertaining  to  the  public 
defence  belonging  to  said  Republic  of  Texas,  shall  retain  all  the 
public  funds,  debts,  taxes,  and  dues  of  every  kind,  which  may  be 
long  to  or  be  due  and  owing  said  republic ;  and  shall  also  retain 
all  the  vacant  and  unappropriated  lands  lying  within  its  limits,  to 

2B 


370  ANNEXATION   OF   TEXAS  [March  i 

be  applied  to  the  payment  of  the  debts  and  liabilities  of  said  Re 
public  of  Texas,  and  the  residue  of  said  lands,  after  discharging 
said  debts  and  liabilities,  to  be  disposed  of  as  said  State  may 
direct ;  but  in  no  event  are  said  debts  and  liabilities  to  become  a 
charge  upon  the  Government  of  the  United  States.  Third.  New 
States,  of  convenient  size,  not  exceeding  four  in  number,  in  addi 
tion  to  said  State  of  Texas,  and  having  sufficient  population,  may 
hereafter,  by  the  consent  of  said  State,  be  formed  cut  of  the  terri 
tory  thereof,  which  shall  be  entitled  to  admission  under  the  pro 
visions  of  the  federal  constitution.  And  such  States  as  may  be 
formed  out  of  that  portion  of  said  territory  lying  south  of  thirty- 
six  degrees  thirty  minutes  north  latitude,  commonly  known  as  the 
Missouri  compromise  line,  shall  be  admitted  into  the  Union  with 
or  without  slavery,  as  the  people  of  each  State  asking  admission 
may  desire.  And  in  such  State  or  States  as  shall  be  formed  out 
of  said  territory  north  of  said  Missouri  compromise  line,  slavery, 
or  involuntary  servitude,  (except  for  crime,)  shall  be  prohibited. 

3.  And  be  it  further  resolved,  That  if  the  President  of  the 
United  States  shall  in  his  judgment  and  discretion  deem  it  most 
advisable,  instead  of  proceeding  to  submit  the  foregoing  resolution 
to  the  Republic  of  Texas,  as  an  overture  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States  for  admission,  to  negotiate  with  that  Republic;  then, 

Be  it  resolved,  That  a  State,  to  be  formed  out  of  the  present 
Republic  of  Texas,  with  suitable  extent  and  boundaries,  and  with 
two  representatives  in  Congress,  until  the  next  apportionment  of 
representation,  shall  be  admitted  into  the  Union,  by  virtue  of  this 
act,  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  existing  States,  as  soon  as  the 
terms  and  conditions  of  such  admission,  and  the  cession  of  the 
remaining  Texian  territory  to  the  United  States  shall  be  agreed 
upon  by  the  Governments  of  Texas  and  the  United  States:  And 
that  the  sum  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  be,  and  the  same 
is  hereby,  appropriated  to  defray  the  expenses  of  missions  and 
negotiations,  to  agree  upon  the  terms  of  said  admission  and  ces 
sion,  either  by  treaty  to  be  submitted  to  the  Senate,  or  by  articles 
to  be  submitted  to  the  two  houses  of  Congress,  as  the  President 
may  direct. 


1846]  MEXICAN  WAR  371 

No.    98.     Act    for   the    Prosecution    of   the 
Mexican  War 

May  13,  1846 

A  BILL  authorizing  the  President  to  accept  the  services  of  volunteers  in 
certain  cases  had  been  introduced  in  the  House  early  in  the  session  of  1845-46, 
but  no  further  action  in  reference  to  it  had  been  taken.  On  the  receipt  of 
Folk's  war  message  of  May  11  the  bill  was  at  once  taken  up,  a  new  first  sec 
tion  and  preamble  substituted,  and,  with  further  amendments  and  a  changed 
title,  the  bill  passed  the  same  day,  by  a  vote  of  174  to  14.  In  the  Senate,  the 
following  day,  a  motion  to  strike  out  the  preamble  was  lost,  18  to  28,  and 
the  bill,  with  a  slight  amendment,  was  passed,  the  vote  being  40  to  2.  On  the 
1 3th  the  House  concurred  in  the  Senate  amendment,  the  act  was  approved, 
and  a  proclamation  by  the  President  was  issued. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  IX.,  9,  10.  The  brief  pro 
ceedings  and  debates  may  be  followed  in  the  Journals  and  Cong.  Globe,  2Qth 
Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  or  Benton's  Abridgment,  XV.  The  political  causes  and 
aspects  of  the  Mexican  war,  and  its  significance  in  connection  with  the  slavery 
controversy,  are  discussed  at  length  in  general  histories  of  the  period  and  in  bi 
ographies  of  contemporary  public  men.  See  also  Webster's  Works  (ed.  1857), 
V.,  253-261,  271-301;  Calhoun's  Works  (ed.  1854),  IV.,  303-327,  396-424. 

An  Act  providing  for  the  Prosecution  of  the  existing  War  between 
the  United  States  and  the  Republic  of  Mexico. 

WHEREAS,  by  the  act  of  the  Republic  of  Mexico,  a  state  of  war 
exists  between  that  Government  and  the  United  States: 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That,  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  the  gov 
ernment  of  the  United  States  to  prosecute  said  war  to  a  speedy 
and  successful  termination,  the  President  be,  and  he  is  hereby, 
authorized  to  employ  the  militia,  naval,  and  military  forces  of  the 
United  States,  and  to  call  for  and  accept  the  services  of  any  num 
ber  of  volunteers,  not  exceeding  fifty  thousand,  who  may  offer 
their  services,  either  as  cavalry,  artillery,  infantry,  or  riflemen,  to 
serve  twelve  months  after  they  shall  have  arrived  at  the  place  of 
rendezvous,  or  to  the  end  of  the  war,  unless  sooner  discharged, 
according  to  the  time  for  which  they  shall  have  been  mustered 
into  service;  and  that  the  sum  of  ten  millions  of  dollars,  out  of 
any  moneys  in  the  treasury,  or  to  come  into  the  treasury,  not 
otherwise  appropriated,  be,  and  the  same  is  hereby,  appropriated 
for  the  purpose  of  carrying  the  provisions  of  this  act  into  effect. 


372  TREATY   WITH   GREAT   BRITAIN  [June  15 

SEC.  8.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  President  of  the 
United  States  be,  and  he  is  hereby,  authorized  forthwith  to  com 
plete  all  the  public  armed  vessels  now  authorized  by  law,  and  to 
purchase  or  charter,  arm,  equip,  and  man,  such  merchant  vessels 
and  steam-boats  as,  upon  examination,  may  be  found  fit,  or  easily 
converted  into  armed  vessels  fit  for  the  public  service,  and  in 
such  number  as  he  may  deem  necessary  for  the  protection  of  the 
seaboard,  lake  coast,  and  the  general  defence  of  the  country. 


No.  99.     Treaty  with  Great  Britain 

June  15,  1846 

So  much  of  the  northern  boundary  of  the  United  States  as  lay  between  the 
Lake  of  the  Woods  and  the  Rocky  Mountains  had  been  fixed  by  the  Ash- 
burton  treaty  of  1842 ;  west  of  the  mountains,  however,  the  boundary  was  still 
undetermined.  By  virtue  of  the  discovery  of  the  Mississippi,  France  had 
claimed  all  the  region  west  of  that  river  as  far  as  the  Pacific;  and  this  claim, 
of  doubtful  value  at  best,  had  passed  to  the  United  States  upon  the  purchase 
of  Louisiana  in  1803.  The  region  known  as  Oregon  was  also  claimed  by  the 
United  States,  on  the  ground  of  Gray's  discovery  of  the  Columbia  River  in 
1791.  Oregon  was  also  claimed  by  Great  Britain;  but  by  a  convention  of 
Oct.  20,  1818,  the  two  countries  agreed  to  a  joint  occupancy  of  the  country 
for  ten  years,  without  prejudice  to  the  rights  of  either  party.  By  the  treaty  of 
1819  between  the  United  States  and  Spain,  the  latter  accepted  the  42d 
parallel  as  the  northern  limit  of  its  possessions  on  the  Pacific  coast ;  while  by 
treaties  of  1824  with  the  United  States,  and  of  1825  with  Great  Britain,  the 
southern  limit  of  the  Russian  possessions  was  fixed  at  54°  40'.  The  "  Oregon 
country,"  therefore,  was  the  region  between  42°  and  54°  40',  and  west  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains.  The  convention  of  1818  was  continued  indefinitely  Aug. 
6,  1827,  but  made  terminable  by  either  party  after  Oct.  20,  1828,  on  twelve 
months'  notice.  In  the  presidential  campaign  of  1844  the  Democratic  plat 
form  demanded  "the  re-occupation  of  Oregon,  and  the  re-annexation  of 
Texas,  at  the  earliest  practicable  period,"  the  intention  being,  of  course,  to 
use  Oregon  as  a  political  offset  to  Texas.  A  bill  to  organize  a  territorial  gov 
ernment  for  Oregon,  with  the  line  of  54°  40'  as  the  northern  limit,  passed  the 
House  Feb.  3,  1845,  but  the  Senate  refused  to  consider  it  because  slavery  was 
to  be  prohibited  in  the  proposed  territory.  A  joint  resolution  of  April  27, 
1846,  authorized  the  President,  at  his  discretion,  to  give  the  required  notice 
of  withdrawal  from  the  agreement  of  1827  with  Great  Britain.  The  matter  in 
dispute  was  finally  settled  by  the  treaty  of  June  15,  1846,  although,  owing  to 


1846]  TREATY   WITH    GREAT   BRITAIN  373 

the  disagreement  of  the  commissioners  under  the  treaty,  a  portion  of  the  water 
boundary  remained  undetermined  until  1871. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Siat.  at  Large,  IX.,  869-870.  The  message 
of  the  President  transmitting  the  treaty  and  correspondence,  together  with 
the  proceedings  of  the  Senate,  are  in  Senate  Doc.  489,  29th  Cong.,  ist  Sess., 
and  Cong.  Globe,  Appendix,  1168-1178;  see  also  Senate  Doc.  i,  pp.  138-192, 
and  Senate  Doc.  117. 


ARTICLE  I. 

From  the  point  on  the  forty-ninth  parallel  of  north  latitude, 
where  the  boundary  laid  down  in  existing  treaties  and  conventions 
between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  terminates,  the  line 
of  boundary  between  the  territories  of  the  United  States  and 
those  of  her  Britannic  Majesty  shall  be  continued  westward  along 
the  said  forty-ninth  parallel  of  north  latitude  to  the  middle  of  the 
channel  which  separates  the  continent  from  Vancouver's  Island, 
and  thence  southerly  through  the  middle  of  the  said  channel,  and 
of  Fuca's  Straits,  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  :  Provided,  ho  wever,  That 
the  navigation  of  the  whole  of  the  said  channel  and  straits,  south 
of  the  forty-ninth  parallel  of  north  latitude,  remain  free  and  open 
to  both  parties. 

ARTICLE  II. 

From  the  point  at  which  the  forty-ninth  parallel  of  north  lati 
tude  shall  be  found  to  intersect  the  great  northern  branch  of  the 
Columbia  River,  the  navigation  of  the  said  branch  shall  be  free 
and  open  to  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  and  to  all  British  subjects 
trading  with  the  same,  to  the  point  where  the  said  branch  meets 
the  main  stream  of  the  Columbia,  and  thence  down  the  said  main 
stream  to  the  ocean,  with  free  access  into  and  through  the  said 
river  or  rivers,  it  being  understood  that  all  the  usual  portages  along 
the  line  thus  described  shall,  in  like  manner,  be  free  and  open. 
In  navigating  the  said  river  or  rivers,  British  subjects,  with  their 
goods  and  produce,  shall  be  treated  on  the  same  footing  as  citizens 
of  the  United  States;  it  being,  however,  always  understood  that 
nothing  in  this  article  shall  be  construed  as  preventing,  or  intended 
to  prevent,  the  government  of  the  United  States  from  making 
any  regulations  respecting  the  navigation  of  the  said  river  or  rivers 
not  inconsistent  with  the  present  treaty. 


374  INDEPENDENT   TREASURY  ACT  [August 


ARTICLE  III. 

In  the  future  appropriation  of  the  territory  south  of  the  forty- 
ninth  parallel  of  north  latitude,  as  provided  in  the  first  article  of 
this  treaty,  the  possessory  rights  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company, 
and  of  all  British  subjects  who  may  be  already  in  the  occupation 
of  land  or  other  property  lawfully  acquired  within  the  said  terri 
tory,  shall  be  respected. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

The  farms,  lands,  and  other  property  of  every  description,  be 
longing  to  the  Puget's  Sound  Agricultural  Company,  on  the  north 
side  of  the  Columbia  River,  shall  be  confirmed  to  the  said  com 
pany.  In  case,  however,  the  situation  of  those  farms  and  lands 
should  be  considered  by  the  United  States  to  be  of  public  and  po 
litical  importance,  and  the  United  States  government  should 
signify  a  desire  to  obtain  possession  of  the  whole,  or  of  any  part 
thereof,  the  property  so  required  shall  be  transferred  to  the  said 
government,  at  a  proper  valuation,  to  be  agreed  upon  between  the 
parties. 

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  i 


No.   100.     Independent  Treasury  Act 

August  6,  1846 

THE  passage  of  the  act  of  July  4,  1840,  "to  provide  for  the  collection,  safe 
keeping,  transfer,  and  disbursement  of  the  public  revenue,"  seemed  to  mark 
the  final  success  of  the  so-called  independent  treasury  plan,  which  had  been 
several  times  urged  by  the  President,  and  twice  rejected  by  the  House  in  the 
twenty-fifth  Congress.  The  success  of  the  Whigs,  however,  in  the  election  of 
1840,  was  followed,  Aug.  13,  1841,  by  the  repeal  of  the  act;  while  the  veto  of 
two  successive  bank  bills  by  President  Tyler,  in  the  same  year,  led  to  the 
immediate  resignation  of  the  members  of  the  Cabinet,  with  the  exception  of 
Webster,  and  to  a  formal  repudiation  of  Tyler  by  the  Whigs.  From  1841  to 
1846  the  custody  of  the  public  funds  devolved  upon  the  Treasury  Department 
without  special  regulation  by  law.  December  19,  1845,  a  bill  embodying  the 
general  features  of  the  independent  treasury  act  of  1840  was  reported  in  the 
House.  The  bill  was  taken  up  March  30,  and  passed  April  2  by  a  vote  of  1 23 

1  Signed:  "James  Buchanan,  Richard  Pakenham."  —  ED. 


1846]  INDEPENDENT   TREASURY  ACT  375 

to  67.  It  was  not  reported  in  the  Senate  until  June  8,  and  was  not  further 
considered  until  July  29;  Aug.  i  the  bill  passed  the  Senate,  the  vote  being 
28  to  25.  The  amendments  of  the  Senate  were  agreed  to  by  the  House  Aug.  5, 
and  on  the  6th  the  act  was  approved. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  IX.,  59-66.  For  the  pro 
ceedings,  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  29th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.;  for  the 
debates,  see  the  Cong.  Globe,  or  Benton's  Abridgment,  XV.  The  act  of  1840 
is  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  V.,  385-392.  On  the  treatment  of  the  public  money 
after  1841,  see  House  Exec.  Doc.  123,  2yth  Cong.,  2d  Sess.  Webster's  speech 
of  Aug.  i,  1846,  is  in  his  Works  (ed.  1857),  V.,  244-252.  For  Clay's  speeches 
on  the  various  sub-treasury  plans,  see  his  Life  and  Speeches  (ed.  1844),  II., 
279-303,  310-349,  384-405,  432-436;  for  his  speech  on  Tyler's  bank  vetoes, 
ib.,  II.,  485-507.  See  also  Kinley's  Independent  Treasury,  chap.  2. 

An  Act  to  provide  for  the  better  Organization  of  the  Treasury,  and 
for  the  Collection,  Safe-Keeping,  Transfer,  and  Disbursement  of 
the  public  Revenue. 
******** 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  the  rooms  prepared  and  provided  in 
the  new  treasury  building  at  the  seat  of  government  for  the  use 
of  the  treasurer  of  the  United  States,  his  assistants,  and  clerks, 
and  occupied  by  them,  and  also  the  fireproof  vaults  and  safes 
erected  in  said  rooms  for  the  keeping  of  the  public  moneys  in  the 
possession  and  under  the  immediate  control  of  said  treasurer,  and 
such  other  apartments  as  are  provided  for  in  this  act  as  places  of 
deposit  of  the  public  money,  are  hereby  constituted  and  declared 
to  be  the  treasury  of  the  United  States.  And  all  moneys  paid 
into  the  same  shall  be  subject  to  the  draft  of  the  treasurer,  drawn 
agreeably  to  appropriations  made  by  law. 

[Sections  2-4  provide  that  the  mint  at  Philadelphia,  the  branch 
mint  at  New  Orleans,  and  the  places  provided  for  at  New  York, 
Boston;  Charleston,  and  St.  Louis,  under  the  act  of  July  4,  1840, 
for  the  use  of  receivers-general  of  public  money,  shall  be  places  of 
deposit.] 

SEC.  5.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  President  shall 
nominate,  and  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate 
appoint,  four  officers  to  be  denominated  "assistant  treasurers  of 
the  United  States,"  which  said  officers  shall  hold  their  respective 
offices  for  the  term  of  four  years,  unless  sooner  removed  there 
from;  one  of  which  shall  be  located  at  the  city  of  New  York 
.  .  .  ;  one  ...  at  the  city  of  Boston  .  .  .  ;  one  ...  at  the 
city  of  Charleston  .  .  .  ;  and  one  other  at  St.  Louis  .  .  . 


376  INDEPENDENT  TREASURY  ACT  [August  6 

SEC.  6.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  treasurer  of  the 
United  States,  the  treasurer  of  the  mint  of  the  United  States,  the 
treasurers,  and  those  acting  as  such,  of  the  various  branch  mints, 
all  collectors  of  the  customs,  all  surveyors  of  the  customs  acting 
also  as  collectors,  all  assistant  treasurers,  all  receivers  of  public 
moneys  at  the  several  land  offices,  all  postmasters,  and  all  public 
officers  of  whatsoever  character,  be,  and  they  are  hereby,  required 
to  keep  safely,  without  loaning,  using,  depositing  in  bankc,  or 
exchanging  for  other  funds  than  as  allowed  by  this  act,  all  the 
public  money  collected  by  them,  or  otherwise  at  any  time  placed 
in  their  possession  and  custody,  till  the  same  is  ordered,  by  the 
proper  department  or  officer  of  the  government,  to  be  transferred 
or  paid  out;  and  when  such  orders  for  transfer  or  payment  are 
received,  faithfully  and  promptly  to  make  the  same  as  directed, 
and  to  do  and  perform  all  other  duties  as  fiscal  agents  of  the  gov 
ernment  which  may  be  imposed  by  this  or  any  other  acts  of  Con 
gress,  or  by  any  regulation  of  the  treasury  department  made  in 
conformity  to  law;  and  also  to  do  and  perform  all  acts  and  duties 
required  by  law,  or  by  direction  of  any  of  the  Executive  depart 
ments  of  the  government,  as  agents  for  paying  pensions,  or  for 
making  any  other  disbursements  which  either  of  the  heads  of 
these  departments  may  be  required  by  law  to  make,  and  which  are 
of  a  character  to  be  made  by  the  depositaries  hereby  constituted, 
consistently  with  the  other  official  duties  imposed  upon  them. 
******** 

SEC.  9.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  all  collectors  and  re 
ceivers  of  public  money,  of  every  character  and  description, 
within  the  District  of  Columbia,  shall,  as  frequently  as  they  may 
be  directed  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  or  the  Postmaster- 
General  so  to  do,  pay  over  to  the  treasurer  of  the  United  States, 
at  the  treasury,  all  public  moneys  collected  by  them,  or  in  their 
hands;  that  all  such  collectors  and  receivers  of  public  moneys 
within  the  cities  of  Philadelphia  and  New  Orleans  shall,  upci  the 
same  direction,  pay  over  to  the  treasurers  of  the  mints  in  their 
respective  cities,  at  the  said  mints,  all  public  moneys  collected  by 
them,  or  in  their  hands ;  and  that  all  such  collectors  and  receivers 
of  public  moneys  within  the  cities  of  New  York,  Boston,  Charles 
ton,  and  St.  Louis,  shall,  upon  the  same  direction,  pay  over  to  the 
assistant  treasurers  in  their  respective  cities,  at  their  offices,  re- 


1846]  TREATY  WITH   MEXICO  37} 

spectively,  all  the  public  moneys  collected  by  them,  or  in  their 
hands,  to  be  safely  kept  by  the  said  respective  depositaries  until 
otherwise  disposed  of  according  to  law ;  and  it  shall  be  the  duty 
of  the  said  Secretary  and  Postmaster-General  respectively  to 
direct  such  payments  by  the  said  collectors  and  receivers  at  all 
the  said  places,  at  least  as  often  as  once  in  each  week,  and  as 
much  more  frequently,  in  all  cases,  as  they  in  their  discretion  may 
think  proper. 

******** 

SEC.  18.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That  on  ...  [January  i,  1847] 
.  .  .  ,  and  thereafter,  all  duties,  taxes,  sales  of  public  lands,  debts, 
and  sums  of  money  accruing  or  becoming  due  to  the  United 
States,  and  also  all  sums  due  for  postages  or  otherwise,  to  the 
general  post-office  department,  shall  be  paid  in  gold  and  silver 
coin  only,  or  in  treasury  notes  issued  under  the  authority  of  the 
United  States.  .  .  . 

SEC.  19.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  on  ...  [April  i,  1847] 
.  .  .  ,  and  thereafter,  every  officer  or  agent  engaged  in  making 
disbursements  on  account  of  the  United  States,  or  of  the  general 
post-office,  shall  make  ail  payments  in  gold  and  silver  coin,  or  in 
treasury  notes,  if  the  creditor  agree  to  receive  said  notes  in  pay 
ment.  .  .  . 

******** 


No.  101.     Treaty  with  Mexico 

February  2,  1848 

THE  treaty  which  closed  the  Mexican  war  was  negotiated  on  the  part  of 
the  United  States  by  N.  P.  Trist,  who,  previous  to  his  appointment  as  com 
missioner  and  confidential  agent,  had  been  chief  clerk  of  the  Department  of 
State.  He  was  instructed  "to  demand  the  cession  of  New  Mexico  and  Cali 
fornia  in  satisfaction  of  claims  against  Mexico."  He  left  Washington  April 
16,1847,  and  arrived  at  Vera  Cruz,  the  headquarters  of  the  United  States  army, 
May  6.  November  16  he  received  a  letter  of  recall,  but  disregarded  it,  and 
Feb.  2, 1848,  concluded  with  Mexico  the  treaty  of  Guadalupe  Hidalgo.  Trist 
remained  in  Mexico  until  April  8,  when  an  order  for  his  arrest  compelled 
him  to  leave.  The  treaty  was  sent  to  the  Senate  Feb.  23,  and  ratified  by  that 
body,  with  amendments,  March  10,  by  a  vote  of  38  to  14.  The  suggested 
amendments  were  accepted  by  Mexico,  and  May  30  ratifications  were  ex- 


37  8  TREATY    WITH    MEXICO  [February  2 

changed.  An  act  of  July  29,  1848,  provided  for  the  payment  of  liquidated 
claims  against  Mexico.  The  survey  of  the  boundary  line  was  provided  for  by 
an  act  of  Aug.  12,  and  acts  of  Feb.  26  and  March  3,  1849,  and  March  3,  1851, 
made  further  provision  for  the  settlement  of  Mexican  claims. 

REFERENCES.  —  English  and  Spanish  text  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  IX., 
922-942.  The  papers  accompanying  the  treaty,  and  the  proceedings  of 
the  Senate,  are  in  Senate  Exec.  Doc.  52,  3oth  Cong.,  ist  Sess.;  other  papers 
are  in  House  Exec.  Doc.  40,  56,  60,  69,  and  70.  On  the  negotiation  of  the 
treaty,  see  House  Exec.  Doc.  50,  3oth  Cong.,  2d  Sess.;  on  the  part  played  by 
Trist,  Senate  Rep.  261,  4ist  Cong.,  2d  Sess.  The  discussions  in  Congress 
may  be  followed  in  Cong.  Globe,  3oth  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  and  appendix.  See 
also  Wharton's  Intern.  Law  Digest  (ed.  1887),  II.,  256-261. 

******** 

ARTICLE  I. 

There  shall  be  firm  and  universal  peace  between  the  United 
States  of  America  and  the  Mexican  republic,  and  between  their 
respective  countries,  territories,  cities,  towns,  and  people,  without 
exception  of  places  or  persons. 

******** 

ARTICLE  V.1 

The  boundary  line  between  the  two  republics  shall  commence 
in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  three  leagues  from  land,  opposite  the  mouth 
of  the  Rio  Grande,  otherwise  called  Rio  Bravo  del  Norte,  or 
opposite  the  mouth  of  its  deepest  branch,  if  it  should  have  more 
than  one  branch  emptying  directly  into  the  sea;  from  thence  up 
the  middle  of  that  river,  following  the  deepest  channel,  where  it 
has  more  than  one,  to  the  point  where  it  strikes  the  southern 
boundary  of  New  Mexico;  thence,  westwardly,  along  the  whole 
southern  boundary  of  New  Mexico  (which  runs  north  of  the  town 
called  Paso)  to  its  western  termination ;  thence,  northward,  along 
the  western  line  of  New  Mexico,  until  it  intersects  the  first  branch 
of  the  River  Gila ;  (or  if  it  should  not  intersect  any  branch  of  that 
river,  then  to  the  point  on  the  said  line  nearest  to  such  branch, 
and  thence  in  a  direct  line  to  the  same;)  thence  down  the  middle 
of  the  said  branch  and  of  the  said  river,  until  it  empties  into  the 
Rio  Colorado;  thence  across  the  Rio  Colorado,  following  the  divi 
sion  line  between  Upper  and  Lower  California,  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  .  .  . 

1  Amended  by  Article  I.  of  the  treaty  of  Dec.  30,  1853.  —  ED. 


j848]  TREATY   WITH   MEXICO  379 


ARTICLE  VI.1 

The  vessels  and  citizens  of  the  United  States  shall,  in  all  time, 
have  a  free  and  uninterrupted  passage  by  the  Gulf  of  California, 
and  by  the  river  Colorado  below  its  confluence  with  the  Gila, 
to  and  from  their  possessions  situated  north  of  the  boundary  line 
denned  in  the  preceding  article;  it  being  understood  that  this 
passage  is  to  be  by  navigating  the  Gulf  of  California  and  the  River 
Colorado,  and  not  by  land,  without  the  express  consent  cf  the 
Mexican  government. 

If,  by  the  examinations  which  may  be  made,  it  should  be  ascer 
tained  to  be  practicable  and  advantageous  to  construct  a  road, 
canal,  or  railway,  which  should  in  whole  or  in  part  run  upon  the 
River  Gila,  or  upon  its  right  or  its  left  bank,  within  the  space  of 
one  marine  league  from  either  margin  of  the  river,  the  govern 
ments  of  both  republics  will  form  an  agreement  regarding  its 
construction,  in  order  that  it  may  serve  equally  for  the  use  and 
advantage  of  both  countries. 

ARTICLE  VII.2 

The  River  Gila,  and  the  part  of  the  Rio  Bravo  del  Norte  lying 
below  the  southern  boundary  of  New  Mexico,  being,  agreeably  to 
the  fifth  article,  divided  in  the  middle  between  the  two  republics, 
the  navigation  of  the  Gila  and  of  the  Bravo  below  said  boundary 
shall  be  free  and  common  to  the  vessels  and  citizens  of  both 
countries;  and  neither  shall,  without  the  consent  of  the  other, 
construct  any  work  that  may  impede  or  interrupt,  in  whole  or  in 
part,  the  exercise  of  this  right;  not  even  for  the  purpose  of  favor 
ing  new  methods  of  navigation.  Nor  shall  any  tax  or  contribution, 
under  any  denomination  or  title,  be  levied  upon  vessels,  or  persons 
navigating  the  same,  or  upon  merchandise  or  effects  transported 
thereon,  except  in  the  case  of  landing  upon  one  of  their  shores. 
If,  for  the  purpose  of  making  the  said  rivers  navigable,  or  for 
maintaining  them  in  such  state,  it  should  be  necessary  or  advan 
tageous  to  establish  any  tax  or  contribution,  this  shall  not  be  done 
without  the  consent  of  both  governments. 

1  Amended  by  Article  IV.  of  the  treaty  of  Dec.  30,  1853.  —  ED. 

2  Amended  by  Article  IV.  of  the  treaty  of  Dec.  30,  1853.  —  ED. 


380  TREATY   WITH   MEXICO  [February  2 

The  stipulations  contained  in  the  present  article  shall  not  impair 
the  territorial  rights  of  either  republic  within  its  established  limits. 

ARTICLE  VIII. 

Mexicans  now  established  in  territories  previously  belonging  to 
Mexico,  and  which  remain  for  the  future  within  the  limits  of  the 
United  States,  as  defined  by  the  present  treaty,  shall  be  free  to 
continue  where  they  now  reside,  or  to  remove  at  any  time  to  the 
Mexican  republic,  retaining  the  property  which  they  possess  in 
the  said  territories,  or  disposing  thereof,  and  removing  the  pro 
ceeds  wherever  they  please,  without  their  being  subjected,  on  this 
account,  to  any  contribution,  tax,  or  charge  whatever. 

Those  who  shall  prefer  to  remain  in  the  said  territories,  may 
either  retain  the  title  and  rights  of  Mexican  citizens,  or  acquire 
those  of  citizens  of  the  United  States.  But  they  shall  be  under  the 
obligation  to  make  their  election  within  one  year  from  the  date 
of  the  exchange  of  ratifications  of  this  treaty ;  and  those  who  shall 
remain  in  the  said  territories  after  the  expiration  of  that  year, 
without  having  declared  their  intention  to  retain  the  character  of 
Mexicans,  shall  be  considered  to  have  elected  to  become  citizens 
of  the  United  States. 

In  the  said  territories,  property  of  every  kind,  now  belonging 
to  Mexicans  not  established  there,  shall  be  inviolably  respected. 
The  present  owners,  the  heirs  of  these,  and  all  Mexicans  who 
may  hereafter  acquire  said  property  by  contract,  shall  enjoy  with 
respect  to  it  guaranties  equally  ample  as  if  the  same  belonged  to 
citizens  of  the  United  States. 

ARTICLE  IX.1 

Mexicans  who,  in  the  territories  aforesaid,  shall  not  pre 
serve  the  character  of  citizens  of  the  Mexican  republic,  con 
formably  with  what  is  stipulated  in  the  preceding  article,  shall 
be  incorporated  into  the  Union  of  the  United  States,  and  be 
admitted  at  the  proper  time  (to  be  judged  of  by  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States)  to  the  enjoyment  of  all  the  rights  of  citizens 
of  the  United  States,  according  to  the  principles  of  the  constitu- 

1  See  protocol,  May  26,  1848:  Treaties  and  Conventions  (ed.  1889),  692,  693, 
—  ED. 


1848]  TREATY   WITH   MEXICO  381 

tion;  and  in  the  mean  time  shall  be  maintained  and  protected 
in  the  free  enjoyment  of  their  liberty  and  property,  and  secured  in 
the  free  exercise  of  their  religion  without  restriction. 

[Article  X.,  relating  to  Mexican  land  grants  in  the  ceded  terri 
tory,  was  stricken  out  by  the  Senate  (see  protocol,  May  26,  1848). 
Article  XI.,  binding  the  United  States  to  prevent  Indian  incursions 
into  Mexican  territory,  and  to  restore  Mexican  prisoners  taken  by 
Indians,  was  abrogated  by  Article  II.  of  the  treaty  of  Dec.  30. 

1853-] 

ARTICLE  XII. 

In  consideration  of  the  extension  acquired  by  the  boundaries 
of  the  United  States,  as  denned  in  the  fifth  article  of  the  present 
treaty,  the  government  of  the  United  States  engages  to  pay  to 
that  of  the  Mexican  republic  the  sum  of  fifteen  millions  of 
dollars.  .  .  . 

ARTICLE  XIII. 

The  United  States  engage,  moreover,  to  assume  and  pay  to  the 
claimants  all  the  amounts  now  due  them,  and  those  hereafter 
to  become  due,  by  reason  of  the  claims  already  liquidated  and 
decided  against  the  Mexican  republic,  under  the  conventions 
between  the  two  republics  severally  concluded  on  ...  [April  n, 
1839,  and  January  30,  1843]  •  •  • 

ARTICLE  XIV. 

The  United  States  do  furthermore  discharge  the  Mexican  re 
public  from  all  claims  of  citizens  of  the  United  States,  not  hereto 
fore  decided  against  the  Mexican  government,  which  may  have 
arisen  previously  to  the  date  of  the  signature  of  this  treaty ;  which 
discharge  shall  be  final  and  perpetual,  whether  the  said  claims  be 
rejected  or  be  allowed  by  the  board  of  commissioners  provided 
for  in  the  following  article,  and  whatever  shall  be  the  total  amount 
of  those  allowed. 

ARTICLE  XV. 

The  United  States,  exonerating  Mexico  from  all  demands  on 
account  of  the  claims  of  their  citizens  mentioned  in  the  preceding 
article,  and  considering  them  entirely  and  forever  cancelled,  what- 


382  TREATY   WITH   MEXICO  [February  i 

ever  their  amount  may  be,  undertake  to  make  satisfaction  for  the 
same,  to  an  amount  not  exceeding  three  and  one  quarter  millions 
of  dollars.  .  .  . 

******** 

[Article  xvii  continues  for  eight  years  the  treaty  of  amity, 
commerce,  and  navigation  of  April  5,  1831,  between  the  United 
States  of  America  and  the  United  Mexican  States,  "  except  the 
additional  article,  and  except  so  far  as  the  stipulations  of  the 
said  treaty  may  be  incompatible  with  any  stipulation  contained 
in  the  present  treaty;"  subject,  however,  to  termination  there 
after  on  one  year's  notice  by  either  party.1] 

ARTICLE  XXI. 

If  unhappily  any  disagreement  should  hereafter  arise  between 
the  governments  of  the  two  republics,  whether  with  respect  to  the 
interpretation  of  any  stipulation  in  this  treaty,  or  with  respect  to 
any  other  particular  concerning  the  political  or  commercial  relations 
of  the  two  nations,  the  said  governments,  in  the  name  of  those 
nations,  do  promise  to  each  other  that  they  will  endeavor,  in  the 
most  sincere  and  earnest  manner,  to  settle  the  differences  so  arising, 
and  to  preserve  the  state  of  peace  and  friendship  in  which  the 
two  countries  are  now  placing  themselves;  using,  for  this  end, 
mutual  representations  and  pacific  negotiations.  And  if,  by  these 
means,  they  should  not  be  enabled  to  come  to  an  agreement,  a 
resort  shall  not,  on  this  account,  be  had  to  reprisals,  aggression,  or 
hostility  of  any  kind,  by  the  one  republic  against  the  other,  until 
the  Government  of  that  which  deems  itself  aggrieved  shall  have 
maturely  considered,  in  the  spirit  of  peace  and  good  neighbor 
ship,  whether  it  would  not  be  better  that  such  difference  should 
be  settled  by  the  arbitration  of  commissioners  appointed  on  each 
side,  or  by  that  of  a  friendly  nation.  And  should  such  course  be 
proposed  by  either  party,  it  shall  be  acceded  to  by  the  other, 
unless  deemed  by  it  altogether  incompatible  with  the  nature  of 

the  difference,  or  the  circumstances  of  the  case. 

*******  *2 

«  Cf.  Article  V.  of  the  treaty  of  Dec.  30,  1853.  —  ED. 

2  Signed:  "N.  P.  Trist,  Luis  G.  Cuevas,  Bernardo  Couto,  Migl.  Atristain." 
—  ED. 


1850]  COMPROMISE    OF    1850  383 


Compromise  of  1850 

AUGUST  8,  1846,  in  the  debate  in  the  House  on  the  bill  appropriating 
$2,000,000  to  purchase  territory  from  Mexico,  Wilmot  of  Pennsylvania 
moved  as  an  amendment  the  proviso  "that,  as  an  express  and  fundamental 
condition  to  the  acquisition  of  any  territory  from  the  Republic  of  Mexico  by 
the  United  States,  by  virtue  of  any  treaty  which  may  be  negotiated  between 
them,  and  to  the  use  by  the  Executive  of  the  moneys  herein  appropriated, 
neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  shall  ever  exist  in  any  part  of  said 
territory,  except  for  crime,  whereof  the  party  shall  first  be  duly  convicted." 
The  amendment  was  not  accepted,  and  later  attempts  to  engraft  the  proviso 
upon  bills  to  organize  the  Territory  of  Oregon  failed.  In  1848  a  bill  to 
organize  the  Territories  of  Oregon,  New  Mexico,  and  California,  with  a  pro 
vision  "that  all  questions  concerning  slavery  in  those  Territories  should  be 
referred  to  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  for  decision,"  passed  the  Senate, 
but  failed  in  the  House.  The  act  of  Aug.  14,  1848,  organizing  the  Territory 
of  Oregon,  applied  to  the  new  Territory  the  provisions  of  the  articles  of  com 
pact  in  the  Ordinance  of  1787.  A  bill  to  establish  territorial  governments  in 
New  Mexico  and  California,  with  the  Wilmot  proviso,  passed  the  House  in 
1849,  but  was  not  acted  on  in  the  Senate.  Later  in  the  session,  the  Senate 
attempted  to  provide  for  the  organization  of  the  two  Territories  by  means  of 
a  "rider"  on  the  general  appropriation  bill,  but  the  attempt  was  defeated  in 
the  House. 

In  May,  1848,  the  Democratic  National  Convention  had  rejected,  36  to 
216,  a  resolution  offered  by  Yancey  of  Alabama,  "That  the  doctrine  of  non 
interference  with  the  rights  of  property  of  any  portion  of  the  people  of  this 
confederacy,  be  it  in  the  States  or  Territories  thereof,  by  any  other  than  the 
parties  interested  in  them,  is  the  true  republican  doctrine,  recognized  by  this 
body."  The  doctrine  of  "squatter  sovereignty"  embodied  in  this  resolution 
now  began  to  be  urged  in  opposition  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Wilmot  proviso, 
and  the  issue  was  joined  on  the  question  of  prohibiting  slavery  in  the  new 
Territories,  or  allowing  the  people  of  each  Territory  to  establish  or  exclude 
slavery  as  they  might  see  fit. 

In  June,  1849,  the  people  of  California  adopted  a  State  constitution  pro 
hibiting  slavery.  In  his  annual  message  of  Dec.  4,  President  Taylor  recom 
mended  the  admission  of  California,  but  suggested  the  advisability  of  awaiting 
popular  action  in  New  Mexico  before  legislating  for  the  organization  of  that 
region.  January  29,  1850,  Clay  submitted  in  the  Senate  a  series  of  resolu 
tions,  intended  to  afford  a  basis  for  adjusting  the  differences  regarding  the 
status  and  treatment  of  slavery  in  the  Territories.  On  the  i3th  of  February 
the  constitution  of  California  was  transmitted  to  Congress.  April  18,  by  a 
vote  of  30  to  22,  Clay's  resolutions  were  referred  to  a  select  committee  of  thir 
teen,  of  which  Clay  was  chairman.  May  8  the  committee  submitted  its 
report,  together  with  two  bills,  one  to  admit  California  as  a  State,  to  establish 
territorial  governments  for  Utah  and  New  Mexico,  and  making  proposals  to 


384  COMPROMISE   OF    1850  [January  29 

Texas  for  the  establishment  of  her  western  and  northern  boundaries,  and  the 
other  to  suppress  the  slave  trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

The  first  of  these  bills,  known  as  the  "omnibus  bill,"  was  taken  up  in  the 
Senate  May  9.  June  17,  by  a  vote  of  38  to  12,  an  amendment  applying  to 
Utah  the  doctrine  of  "squatter  sovereignty"  was  agreed  to;  July  31  the  sec 
tions  relating  to  California,  New  Mexico,  and  Texas  were  stricken  out,  and 
Aug.  i  the  remainder  of  the  bill  passed  the  Senate  as  "an  act  to  establish 
a  territorial  government  for  Utah."  The  House  passed  the  bill  Sept.  7,  by  a 
vote  of  97  to  85,  and  on  the  9th  the  act  was  approved.  A  bill  to  adjust  the 
Texan  boundary  passed  the  Senate  Aug.  10,  by  a  vote  of  30  to  20;  on  the 
1 5th  the  Senate  passed  the  New  Mexico  bill,  the  vote  being  27  to  10.  The 
House  added  the  New  Mexico  bill  to  the  Texas  bill  as  an  amendment,  and 
Sept.  6  passed  the  bill  in  this  form  by  a  vote  of  108  to  97.  The  Senate  con 
curred  in  the  House  amendment,  and  on  the  9th  the  act  was  approved.  The 
bill  to  admit  California  passed  the  Senate  Aug.  13,  34  to  18,  and  the  House 
Sept.  7,  150  to  56;  Sept.  9  the  act  was  approved.  The  fugitive  slave  bill 
passed  the  Senate  Aug.  26,  without  a  division,  the  vote  on  the  third  reading 
being  27  to  12;  the  House  passed  the  bill  Sept.  12,  without  debate,  by  a  vote 
of  109  to  76,  and  on  the  i8th  the  act  was  approved.  The  act  was  repealed 
June  28,  1864.  The  act  to  suppress  the  slave  trade  in  the  District  of  Colum 
bia,  the  last  of  the  compromise  measures,  passed  the  Senate  Sept.  16,  by  a 
vote  of  33  to  19,  and  the  House  on  the  following  day,  by  a  vote  of  124  to  59; 
on  the  2oth  the  act  was  approved. 

REFERENCES.  —  The  text  is  indicated  at  the  end  of  each  of  the  extracts 
following.  For  the  proceedings  of  Congress,  see  the  House  and  Senate  Jour 
nals,  3ist  Cong.,  ist  Sess.;  for  the  discussions,  see  the  Cong.  Globe,  and 
appendix,  or  Benton's  Abridgment,  XVI.  A  large  number  of  memorials  and 
resolutions  are  collected  in  the  House  and  Senate  Misc.  Doc.  of  this  session ; 
see  also  Senate  Rep.  12.  See  also  Webster's  Works  (ed.  1857),  V.,  324-366, 
373-405,  412-438;  Calhoun's  Works  (ed.  1854),  IV.,  535-578;  Seward's 
Works  (ed.  1853),  I.,  31-131;  Pierce's  Summer,  III.,  chaps  34,  35. 


No.  102.     Clay's    Resolutions 

January  29,   1850 

It  being  desirable,  for  the  peace,  concord,  and  harmony  of  the 
Union  of  these  States,  to  settle  and  adjust  amicably  all  existing 
questions  of  controversy  between  them  arising  out  of  the  institu 
tion  of  slavery  upon  a  fair,  equitable  and  just  basis:  therefore, 

i.  Resolved,  That  California,  with  suitable  boundaries,  ought, 
upon  her  application  to  be  admitted  as  one  of  the  States  of  this 


1850]  CLAY'S   RESOLUTIONS  385 

Union,  without  the  imposition  by  Congress  of  any  restriction  in 
respect  to  the  exclusion  or  introduction  of  slavery  within  those 
boundaries. 

2.  Resolved,  That  as  slavery  does  not  exist  by  law,  and  is  not 
likely  to  be  introduced  into  any  of  the  territory  acquired  by  the 
United  States  from  the  republic  of  Mexico,  it  is  inexpedient  for 
Congress  to  provide  by  law  either  for  its  introduction  into,  or 
exclusion  from,  any  part  of  the  said  territory;  and  that  appropriate 
territorial  governments  ought  to  be  established  by  Congress  in  all 
of  the  said  territory,  not  assigned  as  the  boundaries  of  the  proposed 
State  of  California,  without  the  adoption  of  any  restriction  or  con 
dition  on  the  subject  of  slavery. 

3.  Resolved,  That  the  western  boundary  of  the  State  of  Texas 
ought  to  be  fixed  on  the  Rio  del  Norte,  commencing  one  marine 
league  from  its  mouth,  and  running  up  that  river  to  the  southern 
line  of  New  Mexico ;  thence  with  that  line  eastwardly,  and  so  con 
tinuing  in  the  same  direction  to  the  line  as  established  between 
the  United  States  and  Spain,  excluding  any  portion  of  New  Mexico, 
whether  lying  on  the  east  or  west  of  that  river. 

4.  Resolved,  That  it  be  proposed  to  the  State  of  Texas,  that  the 
United  States  will  provide  for  the  payment  of  all  that  portion  of 
the  legitimate  and  bona  fide  public  debt  of  that  State  contracted 
prior  to  its  annexation  to  the  United  States,  and  for  which  the 
duties  on  foreign  imports  were  pledged  by  the  said  State  to  its 
creditors,  not  exceeding  the  sum  of  -   —  dollars,  in  consideration 
of  the  said  duties  so  pledged  having  been  no  longer  applicable  to 
that  object  after  the  said  annexation,  but  having  thenceforward 
become  payable  to  the  United  States;    and  upon  the  condition, 
also,  that  the  said  State  of  Texas  shall,  by  some  solemn  and 
authentic  act  of  her  legislature  or  of  a  convention,  relinquish  to 
the  United  States  any  claim  which  it  has  to  any  part  of  New 
Mexico. 

5.  Resolved,  That  it  is  inexpedient  to  abolish  slavery  in  the 
District  of  Columbia  whilst  that  institution  continues  to  exist  in 
the  State  of  Maryland,  without  the  consent  of  that  State,  without 
the  consent  of  the  people  of  the  District,  and  without  just  com 
pensation  to  the  owners  of  slaves  within  the  District. 

6.  But,  resolved,  That  it  is  expedient  to  prohibit,  within  the 
District,  the  slave  trade  in  slaves  brought  into  it  from  States  or 


386  COMPROMISE   OF    1850  [May  8 

places  beyond  the  limits  of  the  District,  either  to  be  sold  therein 
as  merchandise,  or  to  be  transported  to  other  markets  without 
the  District  of  Columbia. 

7.  Resolved ,  That  more  effectual  provision  ought  to  be  made 
by  law,  according  to  the  requirement  of  the  constitution,  for  the 
restitution  and  delivery  of  persons  bound  to  service  or  labor  in 
any  State,  who  may  escape  into  any  other  State  or  Territory  in  the 
Union.     And, 

8.  Resolved,  That  Congress  has  no  power  to  prohibit  or  obstruct 
the  trade  in  slaves  between  the  slaveholding  States;    but  that  the 
admission  or  exclusion  of  slaves  brought  from  one  into  another  of 
them,  depends  exclusively  upon  their  own  particular  laws. 

[Senate  Jour.,  31  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  pp.  118,  119.] 


No.   103.     Extract  from    the    Report  of  the 
Committee  of  Thirteen 

May  8,   1850 

.  .  .  The  views  and  recommendations  contained  in  this  report 
may  be  recapitulated  in  a  few  words: 

1.  The  admission  of  any  new  State  or  States  formed  out  of 
Texas  to  be  postponed  until  they  shall  hereafter  present  them 
selves  to  be  received  into  the  Union,  when  it  will  be  the  duty  of 
Congress  fairly  and  faithfully  to  execute  the  compact  with  Texas 
by  admitting  such  new  State  or  States ; 

2.  The  admission  forthwith  of  California  into  the  Union,  with 
the  boundaries  which  she  has  proposed; 

3.  The  establishment  of  territorial  governments,  without  the 
Wilmot  proviso,  for  New  Mexico  and  Utah,  embracing  all  the 
territory  recently  acquired  by  the  United  States  from  Mexico  not 
contained  in  the  boundaries  of  California; 

4.  The  combination  of  these  two  last-mentioned  measures  in 
the  same  bill; 

5.  The  establishment  of  the  western  and  northern  boundary  of 
Texas,  and  the  exclusion  from  her  jurisdiction  of  all  New  Mexico, 
with  the  grant  to  Texas  of  a  pecuniary  equivalent;  and  the  sec- 


1850]  UTAH   ACT  387 

tion  for  that  purpose  to  be  incorporated  in  the  bill  admitting 
California  and  establishing  territorial  governments  for  Utah  and 
New  Mexico; 

6.  More  effectual  enactments  of  law  to  secure  the  prompt 
delivery  of  persons  bound  to  service  or  labor  in  one  State,  under 
the  laws  thereof,  who  escape  into  another  State ;  and, 

7.  Abstaining  from  abolishing  slavery;    but,  under  a    heavy 
penalty,  prohibiting  the  slave  trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

[Senate  Rep.  123,  3ist  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  p.  u.] 


No.  104.     Extract  from  the  Utah  Act 

September  g,  1850 

An  Act  to  establish  a  Territorial  Government  for  Utah. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  all  that  part  of  the  territory  of  the 
United  States  included  within  the  following  limits,  to  wit :  bounded 
on  the  west  by  the  State  of  California,  on  the  north  by  the  Ter 
ritory  of  Oregon,  and  on  the  east  by  the  summit  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  and  on  the  south  by  the  thirty-seventh  parallel  of  north 
latitude,  be,  and  the  same  is  hereby,  created  into  a  temporary 
government,  by  the  name  of  the  Territory  of  Utah;  and,  when 
admitted  as  a  State,  the  said  Territory,  or  any  portion  of  the  same, 
shall  be  received  into  the  Union,  with  or  without  slavery,  as  their 
constitution  may  prescribe  at  the  time  of  their  admission:  Pro 
vided,  That  nothing  in  this  act  contained  shall  be  construed  to 
inhibit  the  government  of'  the  United  States  from  dividing  said 
Territory  into  two  or  more  Territories,  in  such  manner  and  at 
such  times  as  Congress  shall  deem  convenient  and  proper,  or  from 
attaching  any  portion  of  said  Territory  to  any  other  State  or 
Territory  of  the  United  States.  .  .  . 

[U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  IX.,  453.] 


388  COMPROMISE   OF    1850  [Sept.  9 

No.    105.     Extract    from     the    Texas     and 
New   Mexico  Act 

September  9,  1850 

An  Act  proposing  to  the  State  of  Texas  the  Establishment  of  her 
Northern  and  Western  Boundaries,  the  Relinquishment  by  the 
said  State  of  all  Territory  claimed  by  her  exterior  to  said  Boun 
daries,  and  of  all  her  claims  upon  the  United  States,  and  to 
establish  a  territorial  Government  for  New  Mexico. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  the  following  propositions  shall  be, 
and  the  same  hereby  are,  offered  to  the  State  of  Texas,  which, 
when  agreed  to  by  the  said  State,  in  an  act  passed  by  the  general 
assembly,  shall  be  binding  and  obligatory,  upon  the  United  States, 
and  upon  the  said  State  of  Texas :  Provided,  The  said  agreement 
by  the  said  general  assembly  shall  be  given  on  or  before  .  .  . 
[December  i,  1850]  .  .  .  : 

FIRST.  The  State  of  Texas  will  agree  that  her  boundary  on  the 
north  shall  commence  at  the  point  at  which  the  meridian  of  one 
hundred  degrees  west  from  Greenwich  is  intersected  by  the  par 
allel  of  thirty-six  degrees  thirty  minutes  north  latitude,  and  shall 
run  from  said  point  due  west  to  the  meridian  of  one  hundred  and 
three  degrees  west  from  Greenwich;  thence  her  boundary  shall 
run  due  south  to  the  thirty-second  degree  of  north  latitude ;  thence 
on  the  said  parallel  of  thirty-two  degrees  of  north  latitude  to  the 
Rio  Bravo  del  Norte,  and  thence  with  the  channel  of  said  river  to 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

SECOND.  The  State  of  Texas  cedes  to  the  United  States  all  her 
claim  to  territory  exterior  to  the  limits  and  boundaries  which  she 
agrees  to  establish  by  the  first  article  of  this  agreement. 

THIRD.  The  State  of  Texas  relinquishes  all  claim  upon  the 
United  States  for  liability  of  the  debts  of  Texas,  aid  for  compen 
sation  or  indemnity  for  the  surrender  to  the  United  States  of  her 
ships,  forts,  arsenals,  custom-houses,  custom-house  revenue,  arms 
and  munitions  of  war,  and  public  buildings  with  their  sites,  which 
became  the  property  of  the  United  States  at  the  time  of  the  an 
nexation. 


1850]  TEXAS  AND   NEW  MEXICO   ACT  389 

FOURTH.  The  United  States,  in  consideration  of  said  estab 
lishment  of  boundaries,  cession  of  claim  to  territory,  and  relin- 
quishment  of  claims,  will  pay  to  the  State  of  Texas  the  sum  of  ten 
millions  of  dollars  in  a  stock  bearing  five  per  cent,  interest,  and 
redeemable  at  the  end  of  fourteen  years,  the  interest  payable  half- 
yearly  at  the  treasury  of  the  United  States. 

******** 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  all  that  portion  of  the 
Territory  of  the  United  States  bounded  as  follows:  Beginning  at 
a  point  in  the  Colorado  River  where  the  boundary  line  with  the 
republic  of  Mexico  crosses  the  same ;  thence  eastwardly  with  the 
said  boundary  line  to  the  Rio  Grande ;  thence  following  the  main 
channel  of  said  river  to  the  parallel  of  the  thirty-second  degree 
of  north  latitude;  thence  east  with  said  degree  to  its  intersection 
with  the  one  hundred  and  third  degree  of  longitude  west  of  Green 
wich;  thence  north  with  said  degree  of  longitude  to  the  parallel 
of  thirty-eighth  degree  of  north  latitude;  thence  west  with  said 
parallel  to  the  summit  of  the  Sierra  Madre ;  thence  sputh  with  the 
crest  of  said  mountains  to  the  thirty-seventh  parallel  of  north 
latitude;  thence  west  with  said  parallel  to  its  intersection  with 
the  boundary  line  of  the  State  of  California;  thence  with  said 
boundary  line  to  the  place  of  beginning  —  be,  and  the  same  is 
hereby,  erected  into  a  temporary  government,  by  the  name  of  the 
Territory  of  New  Mexico:  Provided,  That  nothing  in  this  act 
contained  shau  be  construed  to  inhibit  the  government  of  the 
United  States  from  dividing  said  Territory  into  two  or  more  Ter 
ritories,  in  such  manner  and  at  such  times  as  Congress  shall  deem 
convenient  and  proper,  or  from  attaching  any  portion  thereof  to 
any  other  Territory  or  State:  And  provided,  further,  That,  when 
admitted  as  a  State,  the  said  Territory,  or  any  portion  of  the 
same,  shall  be  received  into  the  Union,  with  or  without  slavery, 
as  their  constitution  may  prescribe  at  the  time  or  their  admission, 

[£7.  S.  Stai.  at  Large  IX.,  446, 


3QO  COMPROMISE   OF    1850  [September  iS 

No.  1 06.     Fugitive  Slave  Act 

September  18,  1850 

An  Act  to  amend,  and  supplementary  to,  the  Act  entitled  "An  Act 
respecting  Fugitives  from  Justice,  and  Persons  escaping  from  the 
Service  of  their  Masters,"  approved  .  .  .  [February  12,  1793]. 

[Sections  1-4  relate  to  the  appointment  of  commissioners,  hav 
ing  concurrent  jurisdiction  with  the  judges  of  the  circuit  and  dis 
trict  courts  of  the  United  States,  and  the  superior  courts  of  the 
territories,  to  perform  the  duties  specified  in  the  act.] 

SEC.  5.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of 
all  marshals  and  deputy  marshals  to  obey  and  execute  all  warrants 
and  precepts  issued  under  the  provisions  of  this  act,  when  to 
them  directed ;  and  should  any  marshal  or  deputy  marshal  refuse 
to  receive  such  warrant,  or  other  process,  when  tendered,  or  to 
use  all  proper  means  diligently  to  execute  the  same,  he  shall,  on 
conviction  thereof,  be  fined  in  the  sum  of  one  thousand  dollars, 
to  the  use  of  such  claimant,  on  the  motion  of  such  claimant,  by 
the  Circuit  or  District  Court  for  the  district  of  such  marshal ;  and 
after  arrest  of  such  fugitive,  by  such  marshal  or  his  deputy,  or  whilst 
at  any  time  in  his  custody  under  the  provisions  of  this  act,  should 
such  fugitive  escape,  whether  with  or  without  the  assent  of  such 
marshal  or  his  deputy,  such  marshal  shall  be  liable,  on  his  official 
bond,  to  be  prosecuted  for  the  benefit  of  such  claimant,  for  the 
full  value  of  the  service  or  labor  of  said  fugitive  in  the  State, 
Territory,  or  District  whence  he  escaped:  and  the  better  to 
enable  the  said  commissioners,  when  thus  appointed,  to  execute 
their  duties  faithfully  and  efficiently,  in  conformity  with  the 
requirements  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  of  this 
act,  they  are  hereby  authorized  and  empowered,  within  their 
counties  respectively,  to  appoint,  in  writing  under  their  hands, 
any  one  or  more  suitable  persons,  from  time  to  time,  to  execute 
all  such  warrants  and  other  process  as  may  be  issued  by  them  in 
the  lawful  performance  of  their  respective  duties ;  with  authority 
to  such  commissioners,  or  the  persons  to  be  appointed  by  them, 
to  execute  process  as  aforesaid,  to  summon  and  call  to  their  aid 
the  bystanders,  or  posse  comitatus  of  the  proper  county,  when 


1850]  FUGITIVE   SLAVE  ACT  391 

necessary  to  ensure  a  faithful  observance  of  the  clause  of  the 
Constitution  referred  to,  in  conformity  with  the  provisions  of  this 
act;  and  all  good  citizens  are  hereby  commanded  to  aid  and 
assist  in  the  prompt  and  efficient  execution  of  this  law,  whenever 
their  services  may  be  required,  as  aforesaid,  for  that  purpose; 
and  said  warrants  shall  run,  and  be  executed  by  said  officers, 
any  where  in  the  State  within  which  they  are  issued. 

SEC.  6.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  when  a  person  held  to 
service  or  labor  in  any  State  or  Territory  of  the  United  States, 
has  heretofore  or  shall  hereafter  escape  into  another  State  or 
Territory  of  the  United  States,  the  person  or  persons  to  whom 
such  service  or  labor  may  be  due,  or  his,  her,  or  their  agent  or 
attorney,  duly  authorized,  by  power  of  attorney,  in  writing,  .  .  . 
.may  pursue  and  reclaim  such  fugitive  person,  either  by  procuring 
a  warrant  from  some  one  of  the  courts,  judges,  or  commissioners 
aforesaid,  of  the  proper  circuit,  district,  or  county,  for  the  ap 
prehension  of  such  fugitive  from  service  or  labor,  or  by  seizing 
and  arresting  such  fugitive,  where  the  same  can  be  done  without 
process,  and  by  taking,  or  causing  such  person  to  be  taken,  forth 
with  before  such  court,  judge,  or  commissioner,  whose  duty  it  shall 
be  to  hear  and  determine  the  case  of  such  claimant  in  a  summary 
manner;  and  upon  satisfactory  proof  being  made,  by  deposition 
or  affidavit,  in  writing,  to  be  taken  and  certified  by  such  court, 
judge,  or  commissioner,  or  by  other  satisfactory  testimony,  duly 
taken  and  certified  by  some  court,  magistrate,  justice  of  the  peace, 
or  other  legal  officer  authorized  to  administer  an  oath  and  take 
depositions  under  the  laws  of  the  State  or  Territory  from  which 
such  person  owing  service  or  labor  may  have  escaped,  with  a  cer 
tificate  of  such  magistracy  or  other  authority,  as  aforesaid,  .  .  . 
and  with  proof,  also  by  affidavit,  of  the  identity  of  the  person 
whose  service  or  labor  is  claimed  to  be  due  as  aforesaid,  that  the 
person  so  arrested  does  in  fact  owe  service  or  labor  to  the  person  or 
persons  claiming  him  or  her,  in  the  State  or  Territory  from  which 
such  fugitive  may  have  escaped  as  aforesaid,  and  that  said  person 
escaped,  to  make  out  and  deliver  to  such  claimant,  his  or  her 
agent  or  attorney,  a  certificate  setting  forth  the  substantial  facts 
as  to  the  service  or  labor  due  from  such  fugitive  to  the  claimant, 
and  of  his  or  her  escape  from  the  State  or  Territory  in  which  he  or 
she  was  arrested,  with  authority  to  such  claimant,  or  his  or  her 


392  COMPROMISE   OF   1850  [September  18 

agent  or  attorney,  to  use  such  reasonable  force  and  restraint  as 
may  be  necessary,  under  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  to  take  and 
remove  such  fugitive  person  back  to  the  State  or  Territory  whence 
he  or  she  may  have  escaped  as  aforesaid.  In  no  trial  or  hearing 
under  this  act  shall  the  testimony  of  such  alleged  fugitive  be  ad 
mitted  in  evidence ;  and  the  certificates  in  this  and  the  first  [fourth] 
section  mentioned,  shall  be  conclusive  of  the  right  of  the  person 
or  persons  in  whose  favor  granted,  to  remove  such  fugitive  to  the 
State  or  Territory  from  which  he  escaped,  and  shall  prevent  all 
molestation  of  such  person  or  persons  by  any  process  issued  by  any 
court,  judge,  magistrate,  or  other  person  whomsoever. 

SEC.  7.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  any  person  who  shall 
knowingly  and  willingly  obstruct,  hinder,  or  prevent  such  claimant, 
his  agent  or  attorney,  or  any  person  or  persons  lawfully  assisting 
him,  her,  or  them,  from  arresting  such  a  fugitive  from  service  or 
labor,  either  with  or  without  process  as  aforesaid,  or  shall  rescue, 
or  attempt  to  rescue,  such  fugitive  from  service  or  labor,  from  the 
custody  of  such  claimant,  his  or  her  agent  or  attorney,  or  other 
person  or  persons  lawfully  assisting  as  aforesaid,  when  so  arrested, 
pursuant  to  the  authority  herein  given  and  declared ;  or  shall  aid, 
abet,  or  assist  such  person  so  owing  service  or  labor  as  aforesaid^ 
directly  or  indirectly,  to  escape  from  such  claimant,  his  agent  or 
attorney,  or  other  person  or  persons  legally  authorized  as  afore 
said;  or  shall  harbor  or  conceal  such  fugitive,  so  as  to  prevent  the 
discovery  and  arrest  of  such  person,  after  notice  or  knowledge  of 
the  fact  that  such  person  was  a  fugitive  from  service  or  labor  as 
aforesaid,  shall,  for  either  of  said  offences,  be  subject  to  a  fine  not 
exceeding  one  thousand  dollars,  and  imprisonment  not  exceeding 
six  months  .  .  .  ;  and  shall  moreover  forfeit  and  pay,  by  way 
of  civil  damages  to  the  party  injured  by  such  illegal  conduct,  the 
sum  of  one  thousand  dollars,  for  each  fugitive  so  lost  as  afore 
said.  .  .  . 

******** 

SEC.  9.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That,  upon  affidavit  made 
by  the  claimant  of  such  fugitive,  his  agent  or  attorney,  after  such 
certificate  has  been  issued,  that  he  has  reason  to  apprehend  that 
such  fugitive  will  be  rescued  by  force  from  his  or  their  possession 
before  he  can  be  taken  beyond  the  limits  of  the  State  in  which 
the  arrest  is  made,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  officer  making  the 


1850]  FUGITIVE   SLAVE  ACT  393 

arrest  to  retain  such  fugitive  in  his  custody,  and  to  remove  him  to 
the  State  whence  he  fled,  and  there  to  deliver  him  to  said  claim 
ant,  his  agent,  or  attorney.  And  to  this  end,  the  officer  aforesaid 
is  hereby  authorized  and  required  to  employ  so  many  persons  as 
he  may  deem  necessary  to  overcome  such  force,  and  to  retain 
them  in  his  service  so  long  as  circumstances  may  require.  .  .  . 

SEC.  lo.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  when  any  person  held 
to  service  or  labor  in  any  State  or  Territory,  or  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  shall  escape  therefrom,  the  party  to  whom  such  service 
or  labor  shall  be  due,  his,  her,  or  their  agent  or  attorney,  may 
apply  to  any  court  of  record  therein,  or  judge  thereof  in  vacation, 
and  make  satisfactory  proof  to  such  court,  or  judge  in  vacation,  of 
the  escape  aforesaid,  and  that  the  person  escaping  owed  service 
or  labor  to  such  party.  Whereupon  the  court  shall  cause  a  record 
to  be  made  of  the  matters  so  proved,  and  also  a  general  descrip 
tion  of  the  person  so  escaping,  with  such  convenient  certainty  as 
may  be;  and  a  transcript  of  such  record,  authenticated  by  the 
attestation  of  the  clerk  and  of  the  seal  of  the  said  court,  being 
produced  in  any  other  State,  Territory,  or  district  in  which  the 
person  so  escaping  may  be  found,  and  being  exhibited  to  any 
judge,  commissioner,  or  other  officer  authorized  by  the  law  of  the 
United  States  to  cause  persons  escaping  from  service  or  labor  to 
be  delivered  up,  shall  be  held  and  taken  to  be  full  and  conclusive 
evidence  of  the  fact  of  escape,  and  that  the  service  or  labor  of  the 
person  escaping  is  due  to  the  party  in  such  record  mentioned. 
And  upon  the  production  by  the  said  party  of  other  and  further 
evidence  if  necessary,  either  oral  or  by  affidavit,  in  addition  to 
what  is  contained  in  the  said  record  of  the  identity  of  the  person 
escaping,  he  or  she  shall  be  delivered  up  to  the  claimant.  And 
the  said  court,  commissioner,  judge,  or  other  person  authorized 
by  this  act  to  grant  certificates  to  claimants  of  fugitives,  shall, 
upon  the  production  of  the  record  and  other  evidences  aforesaid, 
grant  to  such  claimant  a  certificate  of  his  right  to  take  any  such 
person  identified  and  proved  to  be  owing  service  or  labor  as 
aforesaid,  which  certificate  shall  authorize  such  claimant  to  seize 
or  arrest  and  transport  such  person  to  the  State  or  Territory  from 
which  he  escaped  .  .  . 

[U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  IX.,  462-465.] 


394  GADSDEN   TREATY  [December  30 

No.   107.     Act   abolishing  the   Slave  Trade 
in  the  District  of   Columbia 

September  20,  1850 
An  Act  to  suppress  the  Slave  Trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  from  and  after  .  .  .  [January  i, 
1851],  ...  it  shall  not  be  lawful  to  bring  into  the  District  of 
Columbia  any  slave  whatever,  for  the  purpose  of  being  sold,  or 
for  the  purpose  of  being  placed  in  depot,  to  be  subsequently  trans 
ferred  to  any  other  State  or  place  to  be  sold  as  merchandize.  And 
if  any  slave  shall  be  brought  into  the  said  District  by  its  owner,  or 
by  the  authority  or  consent  of  its  owner,  contrary  to  the  provisions 
of  this  act,  such  slave  shall  thereupon  become  liberated  and  free. 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  it  shall  and  may  be 
lawful  for  each  of  the  corporations  of  the  cities  of  Washington  and 
Georgetown,  from  time  to  time,  and  as  often  as  may  be  necessary, 
to  abate,  break  up,  and  abolish  any  depot  or  place  of  confinement 
of  slaves  brought  into  the  said  District  as  merchandize,  contrary 
to  the  provisions  of  this  act,  by  such  appropriate  means  as  may 
appear  to  either  of  the  said  corporations  expedient  and  proper. 
And  the  same  power  is  hereby  vested  in  the  Levy  Court  of  Wash 
ington  county,  if  any  attempt  shall  be  made,  within  its  jurisdic- 
tional  limits,  to  establish  a  depot  or  place  of  confinement  for 
slaves  brought  into  the  said  District  as  merchandize  for  sale  con 
trary  to  this  act. 

[U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  IX.,  467,  468.] 


No.   1 08.     Treaty  with  Mexico 

December  30,  1853 

THE  interest  of  the  United  States  in  a  transportation  route  across  the  isth 
mus  of  Tehuantepec  occasioned  extended  diplomatic  correspondence  between 
the  United  States  and  Mexico.  In  addition,  the  running  of  the  boundary 
line  under  the  treaty  of  Guadalupe  Hidalgo  had  been  attended  with  difficul 
ties.  Both  questions  were  dealt  with  in  the  treaty  of  Dec.  30,  1853.  usually 


1853]  GADSDEN   TREATY  395 

known  as  the  Gadsden  treaty.  The  ratifications  were  exchanged  at  Washing 
ton  June  30,  1854.  The  area  acquired  from  Mexico  was  45,535  square  miles. 
REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  X.,  1031-1037.  The  diplo 
matic  correspondence  is  in  Senate  Doc.  97,  32d  Cong.,  ist  Sess.  On  the 
question  of  boundary,  see  Senate  Doc.  34,  3ist  Cong.,  ist  Sess.  ;  Senate  Doc. 
119,  120,  121,  131,  32d  Cong.,  ist  Sess.;  Senate  Rep.  345,  32d  Cong.,  ist 
Sess.;  Senate  Doc.  55,  33d  Cong.,  2d  Sess.;  Senate  Doc.  57,  34th  Cong.,  ist 
Sess. 

******** 

ARTICLE  I. 

The  Mexican  Republic  agrees  to  designate  the  following  as  her 
true  limits  with  the  United  States  for  the  future:  retaining  the 
same  dividing  line  between  the  two  Californias  as  already  denned 
and  established,  according  to  the  5th  article  of  the  treaty  of  Guada- 
lupe  Hidalgo,  the  limits  between  the  two  republics  shall  be  as 
follows:  Beginning  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  three  leagues  from 
land,  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Grande,  as  provided  in  the 
5th  article  of  the  treaty  of  Guadalupe  Hidalgo ;  thence,  as  defined 
in  the  said  article,  up  the  middle  of  that  river  to  the  point  where 
the  parallel  of  31°  47'  north  latitude  crosses  the  same;  thence 
due  west  one  hundred  miles;  thence  south  to  the  parallel  of 
31°  20'  north  latitude;  thence  along  the  said  parallel  of  31°  20' 
to  the  i nth  meridian  of  longitude  west  of  Greenwich;  thence  in 
a  straight  line  to  a  point  on  the  Colorado  River  twenty  English 
miles  below  the  junction  of  the  Gila  and  Colorado  Rivers ;  thence 
up  the  middle  of  the  said  river  Colorado  until  it  intersects  the 
present  line  between  the  United  States  and  Mexico.  .  .  . 

******** 

ARTICLE  III. 

In  consideration  of  the  foregoing  stipulations,  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  agrees  to  pay  to  the  government  of  Mexico, 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  the  sum  of  ten  millions  of  dollars  .  .  .* 

ARTICLE  IV. 

The  provisions  of  the  6th  and  7th  articles  of  the  treaty  of  Guada 
lupe  Hidalgo  having  been  rendered  nugatory,  for  the  most  part, 

1  The  appropriation  was  made  by  act  of  June  29,  1854:  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large, 
X.,  301.  — ED. 


396  GADSDEN   TREATY  [December  30 

by  the  cession  of  territory  granted  in  the  first  article  of  this  treaty, 
the  said  articles  are  hereby  abrogated  and  annulled,  and  the 
provisions  as  herein  expressed  substituted  therefor.  The  vessels, 
and  citizens  of  the  United  States  shall,  in  all  time,  have  free  and 
uninterrupted  passage  through  the  Gulf  of  California,  to  and  from 
their  possessions  situated  north  of  the  boundary  line  of  the  two 
countries.  It  being  understood  that  this  passage  is  to  be  by 
navigating  the  Gulf  of  California  and  the  river  Colorado,  and  not  by 
land,  without  the  express  consent  of  the  Mexican  government; 
and  precisely  the  same  provisions,  stipulations,  and  restrictions, 
in  all  respects,  are  hereby  agreed  upon  and  adopted,  and  shall  be 
scrupulously  observed  and  enforced  by  the  two  contracting 
governments  in  reference  to  the  Rio  Colorado,  so  far  and 
for  such  distance  as  the  middle  of  that  river  is  made  their  common 
boundary  line  by  the  first  article  of  this  treaty. 

The  several  provisions,  stipulations,  and  restrictions  contained 
in  the  yth  article  of  the  treaty  of  Guadalupe  Hidalgo  shall  remain 
in  force  only  so  far  as  regards  the  Rio  Bravo  del  Norte,  below  the 
initial  of  the  said  boundary  provided  in  the  first  article  of  this 
treaty;  that  is  to  say,  below  the  intersection  of  the  31°  47'  30" 
parallel  of  latitude,  with  the  boundary  line  established  by  the  late 
treaty  dividing  said  river  from  its  mouth  upwards,  according  to 
the  fifth  article  of  the  treaty  of  Guadalupe. 


ARTICLE  VIII. 

The  Mexican  Government  having  on  the  5th  of  February,  1853, 
authorized  the  early  construction  of  a  plank  and  railroad  across 
the  Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec,  and,  to  secure  the  stable  benefits  of 
said  transit  way  to  the  persons  and  merchandise  of  the  citizens 
of  Mexico  and  the  United  States,  it  is  stipulated  that  neither 
government  will  interpose  any  obstacle  to  the  transit  of  persons 
and  merchandise  of  both  nations;  and  at  no  time  shall  higher 
charges  be  made  on  the  transit  of  persons  and  property  of  citizens 
of  the  United  States,  than  may  be  made  on  the  persons  and  prop 
erty  of  other  foreign  nations,  nor  shall  any  interest  in  said  transit 
way,  nor  in  the  proceeds  thereof,  be  transferred  to  any  foreign 
government. 

The  United  States,  by  its  agents,  shall  have  the  right  to  trans- 


1853]  KANSAS-NEBRASKA  ACT  39; 

port  across  the  isthmus,  in  closed  bags,  the  mails  of  the  United 
States  not  intended  for  distribution  along  the  line  of  communica 
tion;  also  the  effects  of  the  United  States  government  and  its 
citizens,  which  may  be  intended  for  transit,  and  not  for  distribution 
on  the  isthmus,  free  of  custom-house  or  other  charges  by  the 
Mexican  government.  Neither  passports  nor  letters  of  security 
will  be  required  of  persons  crossing  the  isthmus  and  not  remaining 
in  the  country. 

When  the  construction  of  the  railroad  shall  be  completed,  the 
Mexican  government  agrees  to  open  a  port  of  entry  in  addition 
to  the  port  of  Vera  Cruz,  at  or  near  the  terminus  of  said  road  on 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

The  two  governments  will  enter  into  arrangements  for  the 
prompt  transit  of  troops  and  munitions  of  the  United  States, 
which  that  government  may  have  occasion  to  send  from  one 
part  of  its  territory  to  another,  lying  on  opposite  sides  of  the 
continent. 

The  Mexican  government  having  agreed  to  protect  with  its 
whole  power  the  prosecution,  preservation,  and  security  of  the 
work,  the  United  States  may  extend  its  protection  as  it  shall  judge 
wise  to  it  when  it  may  feel  sanctioned  and  warranted  by  the  public 
or  international  law. 

*******  *1 


Kansas-Nebraska  Act 
1854 

THE  first  suggestion  of  a  territorial  organization  for  the  region  between  the 
western  boundary  of  Missouri  and  the  Rocky  Mountains,  which  had  been  left 
without  organization  upon  the  admission  of  Missouri  in  1821,  seems  to  have 
been  made  in  1844,  when  Wilkins,  Secretary  of  War,  proposed  the  formation 
of  Nebraska  Territory  as  preliminary  to  the  extension  of  military  posts  in 
that  direction.  A  bill  to  establish  the  Territory  of  Nebraska  was  introduced 
in  the  House  Dec.  17,  1844,  by  Douglas  of  Illinois,  but  no  action  was  taken. 
A  bill  with  the  same  object,  brought  in  March  15,  1848,  by  Douglas,  now  a 
member  of  the  Senate,  likewise  came  to  nothing.  A  bill  to  attach  Nebraska 
to  the  surveying  district  of  Arkansas,  introduced  in  the  Senate  July  28,  1848, 

1  Signed:  "James  Gadsden,  Manuel  Diez  de  Bonilla,  Jose  Salazar  Ylarreguil, 
J.  Mariano  Monterde."  —  ED. 


398  KANSAS-NEBRASKA   ACT  [1854 

stopped  with  the  Committee  on  Public  Lands.  A  third  bill  to  organize  the 
Territory  of  Nebraska,  also  introduced  by  Douglas,  was  considered  by  the 
Senate  Dec.  20,  1848,  and  recommitted. 

December  13,  1852,  Hall  of  Missouri  introduced  in  the  House  a  bill  to 
organize  the  Territory  of  Platte.  The  bill  went  to  the  Committee  on  Terri 
tories,  and  as  such  \va>  not  reported.  February  2,  1853,  however,  Richardson 
of  Illinois  reported  from  the  committee  a  bill  to  organize  the  Territory  of 
Nebraska,  which  passed  the  House  Feb.  10,  by  a  vote  of  98  to  43.  The  Senate 
Committee  on  Territories  reported  the  bill  on  the  iyth,  without  amendments; 
March  4,  by  a  vote  of  23  to  17,  consideration  was  refused.  This  bill  did  not 
propose  to  legislate  slavery  into  the  new  territory.  "The  opposition  to  it 
came  from  Southern  members  who  were  preparing,  but  were  not  yet  ready  to 
announce,  their  next  advanced  claim,  that  the  compromise  of  1850  had  super 
seded  and  voided  that  of  1820,  abolished  the  prohibition  of  slavery  in  the 
territory  north  of  the  Missouri  compromise  line,  and  opened  it  to  the  opera 
tion  of  squatter  sovereignty"  (Johnston). 

The  thirty-third  Congress  met  Dec.  5,  1853.  December  14  Senator  Dodge 
of  Iowa  introduced  a  bill  to  organize  the  Territory  of  Nebraska.  The  bill, 
which  appears  to  have  been  identical  with  Richardson's  bill  of  the  previous  ses 
sion,  provided  for  the  organization  of  the  whole  region  between  the  parallels 
of  36°  30'  and  43°  30'  on  the  south  and  north,  Missouri  and  Iowa  on  the  east, 
and  the  Rocky  Mountains  on  the  west.  A  substitute  for  this  bill,  with  the 
same  provision  as  to  slavery  as  that  which  had  been  inserted  in  the  Utah  and 
New  Mexico  bills,  was  reported  by  Douglas,  from  the  Committee  on  Terri 
tories,  Jan.  4,  1854.  The  declaration  regarding  slavery  was  satisfactory  to 
neither  party,  and  on  the  i6th  Dixon  of  Kentucky  gave  notice  of  an  amend 
ment  explicitly  exempting  the  proposed  territory  from  the  operation  of  the 
Missouri  compromise,  to  which  Sumner  of  Massachusetts  responded  with  an 
amendment  extending  the  Missouri  compromise  to  the  new  territory.  On  the 
23d  Douglas  reported  that  the  committee  had  prepared  several  new  amend 
ments  to  the  bill,  changing  the  southern  boundary  from  36°  30'  to  37°,  pro 
viding  for  two  territories  instead  of  one,  and  declaring  the  Missouri  compro 
mise  inoperative  in  the  new  territories,  on  the  ground  that  it  had  been  super 
seded  by  the  compromise  measures  of  1850.  The  bill  as  thus  amended 
Douglas  proposed  to  substitute  for  the  bill  previously  reported.  Debate  in 
Committee  of  the  Whole  began  Jan.  30.  February  6  Douglas  offered  an 
amendment  by  which  the  Missouri  compromise  was  to  be  declared  "inconsist 
ent"  with  the  legislation  of  1850,  following  this  the  next  day  with  another 
amendment  in  the  words  of  sec.  14  of  the  act  as  finally  passed.  This  last 
amendment  was  agreed  to  on  the  i5th,  by  a  vote  of  35  to  10.  March  4  the 
bill  passed  the  Senate,  after  an  all-night  session,  by  a  vote  of  37  to  14. 

In  the  meantime  Representative  Miller  of  Missouri  had  introduced  in  the 
House,  Dec.  22,  a  bill  to  organize  the  Territory  of  Nebraska.  The  bill  went 
to  the  Committee  on  Territories,  from  which  Richardson  reported,  Jan.  31,  a 
bill  to  organize  the  Territories  of  Nebraska  and  Kansas.  A  minority  report, 
advocating  the  application  of  squatter  sovereignty  to  the  two  territories,  was 
submitted  by  English  of  Indiana.  The  House  bill  did  not  regularly  come  up 
for  consideration  until  May  8,  but  from  Feb.  14  to  April  28  either  the  House 


1854]  DOUGLAS'S   REPORT  399 

or  Senate  bill,  and  the  general  subject  of  territorial  governments  for  Kansas 
and  Nebraska,  were  discussed  almost  daily,  regardless  of  the  business  nomi 
nally  before  the  House.  March  21  the  Senate  bill  was  disposed  of  by  refer 
ring  it  to  the  Committee  of  the  Whole,  and  was  not  again  considered.  May  8 
Richardson  called  up  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  thirty  bills  and  resolutions 
being  successively  laid  aside  until  the  bill  was  reached.  The  debate  continued 
with  increasing  violence  until  the  22d,  when,  by  a  vote  of  113  to  100,  the 
House  passed  the  bill  with  amendments.  Douglas  championed  the  bill  in  the 
Senate,  where  the  debate  was  attended  with  intense  excitement  and  frequent 
disorder.  The  bill  passed  the  Senate  May  26,  without  a  division,  and  on  the 
3oth  the  act  was  approved. 

The  form  of  government  provided  by  the  act  did  not  differ  essentially  from 
that  contained  in  other  territorial  acts.  The  extracts  from  the  act  following 
are  limited  to  the  sections  defining  the  boundaries  of  the  two  territories,  and 
the  status  of  slavery. 

REFERENCES.  —  The  text  is  indicated  in  connection  with  each  extract,  fol 
lowing.  The  House  and  Senate  Journals,  33d  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  give  the 
record  of  proceedings;  both  proceedings  and  debates  are  reported  at  length 
in  the  Cong.  Globe,  and  appendix. 


No.  109.     Douglas's  Report 

January  4,   1854 

******** 
The  principal  amendments  which  your  committee  deem  it  their 
duty  to  commend  to  the  favorable  action  of  the  Senate,  in  a 
special  report,  are  those  in  which  the  principles  established  by  the 
compromise  measures  of  1850,  so  far  as  they  are  applicable  to 
territorial  organizations,  are  proposed  to  be  affirmed  and  carried 
into  practical  operation  within  the  limits  of  the  new  Territory. 

The  wisdom  of  those  measures  is  attested,  not  less  by  their 
salutary  and  beneficial  effects,  in  allaying  sectional  agitation  and 
restoring  peace  and  harmony  to  an  irritated  and  distracted  people, 
than  by  the  cordial  and  almost  universal,  approbation  with  which 
they  have  been  received  and  sanctioned  by  the  whole  country. 
In  the  judgment  of  your  committee,  those  measures  were  intended 
to  have  a  far  more  comprehensive  and  enduring  effect  than  the 
mere  adjustment  of  the  difficulties  arising  out  of  the  recent  acqui 
sition  of  Mexican  territory.  They  were  designed  to  establish 
certain  great  principles,,  which  would  not  only  furnish  adequate 


400  KANSAS-NEBRASKA   ACT  [January  4 

remedies  for  existing  evils,  but,  in  all  time  to  come,  avoid  the 
perils  of  a  similar  agitation,  by  withdrawing  the  question  of  slavery 
from  the  halls  of  Congress  and  the  political  arena,  and  committing 
it  to  the  arbitrament  of  those  who  were  immediately  interested  in, 
and  alone  responsible  for  its  consequences.  With  the  view  of 
conforming  their  action  to  what  they  regard  the  settled  policy  of 
the  government,  sanctioned  by  the  approving  voice  of  the  Ameri 
can  people,  your  committee  have  deemed  it  their  duty  to  incor 
porate  and  perpetuate,  in  their  territorial  bill,  the  principles  and 
spirit  of  those  measures.  If  any  other  consideration  were  necessary, 
to  render  the  propriety  of  this  course  imperative  upon  the  com 
mittee,  they  may  be  found  in  the  fact,  that  the  Nebraska  country 
occupies  the  same  relative  position  to  the  slavery  question,  as  did 
New  Mexico  and  Utah,  when  those  territories  were  organized. 

It  was  a  disputed  point,  whether  slavery  was  prohibited  by  law 
in  the  country  acquired  from  Mexico.  On  the  one  hand  it  was 
contended,  as  a  legal  proposition,  that  slavery  having  been  pro 
hibited  by  the  enactments  of  Mexico,  according  to  the  laws  of 
nations,  we  received  the  country  with  all  its  local  laws  and  domestic 
institutions  attached  to  the  soil,  so  far  as  they  did  not  conflict  with 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States;  and  that  a  law,  either  pro 
tecting  or  prohibiting  slavery,  was  not  repugnant  to  that  instru 
ment,  as  was  evidenced  by  the  fact,  that  one-half  of  tlie  States  of 
the  Union  tolerated,  while  the  other  half  prohibited,  the  institution 
of  slavery  On  the  other  hand  it  was  insisted  that,  by  virtue  of 
the  Constitution  of  fhe  United  States,  every  citizen  had  a  right  to 
remove  to  any  Territory  of  the  Union,  and  carry  his  property  with 
him  under  the  protection  of  law,  whether  that  property  consisted 
in  persons  or  things.  ,  .  . 

...  a  similar  question  has  arisen  in  regard  to  the  right  to  hold 
slaves  in  the  proposed  territory  of  Nebraska  when  the  Indian 
laws  shall  be  withdrawn,  and  the  country  thrown  open  to  emigra 
tion  and  settlement.  [The  report  quotes  the  section  of  the  Mis 
souri  Enabling  Act  (No.  j^ante)  relating  to  slavery, and  continue7!: 

Under  this  section,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Mexican  law  in  New 
Mexico  and  Utah,  it  is  a.  disputed  point  whether  slavery  is  pro 
hibited  in  the  Nebraska  country  by  valid  enactment.  The  deci 
sion  of  this  question  involves  the  constitutional  power  of  Congress 
to  pass  laws  prescribing  and  regulating  the  domestic  institutions 


1854]  DOUGLAS'S   REPORT  401 

of  the  various  territories  of  the  Union.  In  the  opinion  of  those 
eminent  statesmen,  who  hold  that  Congress  is  invested  with  no 
rightful  authority  to  legislate  upon  the  subject  of  slavery  in  the 
territories,  the  8th  section  of  the  act  preparatory  to  the  admission 
of  Missouri  is  null  and  void;  while  the  prevailing  sentiment  in 
large  portions  of  the  Union  sustains  the  doctrine  that  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States  secures  to  every  citizen  an  inalien 
able  right  to  move  into  any  of  the  territories  with  his  property,  of 
whatever  kind  and  description,  and  to  hold  and  enjoy  the  same 
under  the  sanction  of  law.  Your  committee  do  not  feel  themselves 
called  upon  to  enter  into  the  discussion  of  these  controverted 
questions.  They  involve  the  same  grave  issues  which  produced  the 
agitation,  the  sectional  strife,  and  the  fearful  struggle  of  1850. 
As  Congress  deemed  it  wise  and  prudent  to  refrain  from  deciding 
the  matters  in  controversy  then,  either  by  affirming  or  repealing 
the  Mexican  laws,  or  by  an  act  declaratory  of  the  true  intent  of  the 
Constitution  and  the  extent  of  the  protection  afforded  by  it  to 
slave  property  in  the  territories,  so  your  committee  are  not  pre 
pared  now  to  recommend  a  departure  from  the  course  pursued  on 
that  memorable  occasion,  either  by  affirming  or  repealing  the  8th 
section  of  the  Missouri  act,  or  by  any  act  declaratory  of  the  mean 
ing  of  the  Constitution  in  respect  to  the  legal  points  in  dispute. 

Your  committee  deem  it  fortunate  for  the  peace  of  the  country, 
and  the  security  of  the  Union,  that  the  controversy  then  resulted 
in  the  adoption  of  the  compromise  measures,  which  the  two  great 
political  parties,  with  singular  unanimity,  have  affirmed  as  a  car 
dinal  article  of  their  faith,  and  proclaimed  to  the  world,  as  a  final 
settlement  of  the  controversy  and  an  end  of  the  agitation.  A  due 
respect,  therefore,  for  the  avowed  opinions  of  Senators,  as  well  as  a 
proper  sense  of  patriotic  duty,  enjoins  upon  your  committee  the 
propriety  and  necessity  of  a  strict  adherence  to  the  principles,  and 
even  a  literal  adoption  of  the  enactments  of  that  adjustment  in  all 
their  territorial  bills,  so  far  as  the  same  are  not  locally  inappli 
cable.  .  .  . 

[The  report  here  quotes  various  provisions  of  the  compromise 
acts  of  1850,  and  concludes]: 

From  these  provisions  it  is  apparent  that  the  compromise 
measures  of  1850  affirm  and  rest  upon  the  following  propositions 
—  First :  That  all  questions  pertaining  to  slavery  in  the  territories, 

2D 


402  KANSAS-NEBRASKA   ACT  [January  1 6 

and  in  the  new  States  to  be  formed  therefrom,  are  to  be  left  to  the 
decision  of  the  people  residing  therein,  by  their  appropriate  repre 
sentatives,  to  be  chosen  by  them  for  that  purpose. 

Second:  That  "all  cases  involving  title  to  slaves,"  and  "ques 
tions  of  personal  freedom"  are  referred  to  the  adjudication  of  the 
local  tribunals,  with  the  right  of  appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States. 

Third:  That  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  in  respect  to  fugitives  from  service,  is  to  be  carried  into 
faithful  execution  in  all  "the  organized  territories"  the  same  as  in 
the  States.  The  substitute  for  the  bill  which  your  committee  have 
prepared,  and  which  is  commended  to  the  favorable  action  of  the 
Senate,  proposes  to  carry  these  propositions  and  principles  into 
practical  operation,  in  the  precise  language  of  the  compromise 
measures  of  1850. 

[Senate  Rep.  15,  33d  Cong.,  ist  Sess.] 


No.   no.    Dixon's  Proposed  Amendment 

January  16,  1854 

SEC.  22.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  so  much  of  the  8th 
section  of  ...  [the  Missouri  Enabling  Act  of  March  6,  1820] 
...  as  declares  "That  in  all  that  territory  ceded  by  France  to 
the  United  States,  under  the  name  of  Louisiana,  which  lies  north 
of  36  degrees  30  minutes  north  latitude,  slavery  and  involuntary 
servitude,  otherwise  than  in  the  punishment  of  crimes  whereof 
the  parties  shall  have  been  duly  convicted,  shall  be  forever  pro 
hibited,"  shall  not  be  so  construed  as  to  apply  to  the  Territory 
contemplated  by  this  act,  or  to  any  other  Territory  of  the  United 
States;  but  that  the  citizens  of  the  several  States  or  Territories 
shall  be  at  liberty  to  take  and  hold  their  slaves  within  any  of  the 
Territories  of  the  United  States,  or  of  the  States  to  be  formed 
therefrom,  as  if  the  said  act,  entitled  as  aforesaid,  and  approved 
as  aforesaid,  had  never  been  passed. 

[Cong.  Globe,  33d  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  175.] 


1 8s 4]  KANSAS-NEBRASKA   ACT  403 


No.  in.    Sumner's  Proposed  Amendment 

January  17,  1854 

Provided,  That  nothing  herein  contained  shall  be  construed  to 
abrogate  or  in  any  way  contravene  .  .  .  [the  Missouri  Enabling 
Act]  .  .  .  ;  wherein  it  is  expressly  enacted  that  "in  all  that 
territory  ceded  by  France  to  the  United  States,  under  the  name 
of  Louisiana,  which  lies  north  of  thirty-six  degrees  and  thirty 
minutes  north  latitude,  not  included  within  the  limits  of  the  State 
contemplated  by  this  act,  slavery  and  involuntary  servitude, 
otherwise  than  in  the  punishment  of  crimes,  whereof  the  party 
shall  have  been  duly  convicted,  shall  be,  and  is  hereby,  forever 
prohibited." 

[Cong.  Globe,  33d  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  i86.J 


No.  112.    Extract  from  the  Act  to  organize 
the  Territories  of  Nebraska  and  Kansas 

May  30,  1854 

An  Act  to  Organize  the  Territories  of  Nebraska  and  Kansas. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  all  that  part  of  the  territory  of  the 
United  States  included  within  the  following  limits,  except  such 
portions  thereof  as  are  hereinafter  expressly  exempted  from  the 
operations  of  this  act,  to  wit :  beginning  at  a  point  in  the  Missouri 
River  where  the  fortieth  parallel  of  north  latitude  creeses  the  same ; 
thence  west  on  said  parallel  to  the  east  boundary  of  the  Territory 
of  Utah,  on  the  summit  of  the  Rocky  Mountains ;  thence  on  said 
summit  northward  to  the  forty-ninth  parallel  of  north  latitude; 
thence  east  on  said  parallel  to  the  western  boundary  of  the  territory 
of  Minnesota ;  thence  southward  on  said  boundary  to  the  Missouri 
River;  thence  down  the  main  channel  of  said  river  to  the  place 
of  beginning,  be,  and  the  same  is  hereby,  created  into  a  temporary 
government  by  the  name  of  the  Territory  of  Nebraska ;  and  when 
admitted  as  a  State  or  States,  the  said  Territory,  or  any  portion 


404  KANSAS-NEBRASKA  ACT  [May  30 

of  the  same,  shall  be  received  into  the  Union  with  or  without 
slavery,  as  their  constitution  may  prescribe  at  the  time  of  their 
admission:  .  .  . 

******** 

SEC.  9.  [The  section  relates  to  the  judicial  system  of  the  Ter 
ritory.]  .  .  .  Writs  of  error,  and  appeals  from  the  final  decisions 
of  said  Supreme  Court  [of  the  Territory],  shall  be  allowed,  and 
may  be  taken  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  in  the 
same  manner  and  under  the  same  regulations  as  from  the  circuit 
courts  of  the  United  States,  where  the  value  of  the  property,  or  the 
amount  in  controversy,  to  be  ascertained  by  the  oath  or  affirmation 
of  either  party,  or  other  competent  witness,  shall  exceed  one 
thousand  dollars;  except  only  that  in  all  cases  involving  title  to 
slaves,  the  said  writs  of  error,  or  appeals  shall  be  allowed  and  de 
cided  by  the  said  Supreme  Court,  without  regard  to  the  value  of 
the  matter,  property,  or  title  in  controversy;  .  .  .  Provided,  that 
nothing  herein  contained  shall  be  construed  to  apply  to  or  affect 
the  provisions  of  the  .  .  .  [Fugitive  Slave  acts  of  1793  and 
1850]  .  .  . 

SEC.  10.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  provisions  of  ... 
[the  Fugitive  Slave  acts  of  1793  and  1850]  .  .  .  be,  and  the 
same  are  hereby,  declared  to  extend  to  and  be  in  full  force  within 

the  limits  of  said  Territory  of  Nebraska. 

******** 

SEC.  14.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  .  .  .  That  the  Constitution, 
and  all  laws  of  the  United  States  which  are  not  locally  inapplicable, 
shall  have  the  same  force  and  effect  within  the  said  Territory  of 
Nebraska  as  elsewhere  within  the  United  States,  except  the  eighth 
section  of  the  act  preparatory  to  the  admission  of  Missouri  into 
the  Union,  approved  .  .  .  [March  6,  1820]  .  .  .  ,  which,  being 
inconsistent  with  the  principle  of  non-intervention  by  Congress 
with  slavery  in  the  States  and  Territories,  as  recognized  by  the 
legislation  of  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty,  commonly  called  the 
Compromise  Measures,  is  hereby  declared  inoperative  and  void; 
it  being  the  true  intent  and  meaning  of  this  act  not  to  legislate 
slavery  into  any  Territory  or  State,  nor  to  exclude  it  therefrom, 
but  to  leave  the  people  thereof  perfectly  free  to  form  and  regulate 
their  domestic  institutions  in  their  own  way,  subject  only  to  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States:  Provided,  That  nothing  herein 


1854]  DRED    SCOTT   DECISION  405 

contained  shall  be  construed  to  revive  or  put  in  force  any  law  or 
regulation  which  may  have  existed  prior  to  the  act  of  ...  [March 
6,  1820]  .  .  .  ,  either  protecting,  establishing,  prohibiting,  or 
abolishing  slavery. 

******** 

SEC.  19.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  all  that  part  of  the 
Territory  of  the  United  States  included  within  the  following  limits, 
except  such  portions  thereof  as  are  hereinafter  expressly  exempted 
from  the  operations  of  this  act,  to  wit,  beginning  at  a  point  on  the 
western  boundary  of  the  State  of  Missouri,  where  the  thirty-seventh 
parallel  of  north  latitude  crosses  the  same;  thence  west  on  said 
parallel  to  the  eastern  boundary  of  New  Mexico ;  thence  north  on 
said  boundary  to  latitude  thirty-eight;  thence  following  said  boun 
dary  westward  to  the  east  boundary  of  the  Territory  of  Utah,  on  the 
summit  of  the  Rocky  Mountains;  thence  northward  on  said  summit 
to  the  fortieth  parallel  of  latitude ;  thence  east  on  said  parallel  to 
the  western  boundary  of  the  State  of  Missouri ;  thence  south  with 
the  western  boundary  of  said  State  to  the  place  .of  beginning,  be, 
and  the  same  is  hereby,  created  into  a  temporary  government  by 
the  name  of  the  Territory  of  Kansas ;  and  when  admitted  as  a  State 
or  States,  the  said  Territory,  or  any  portion  of  the  same,  shall  be 
received  into  the  Union  with  or  without  slavery,  as  their  Constitu 
tion  may  prescribe  at  the  time  of  their  admission:  .  .  . 

[Sections  27,  28,  and  32  apply  to  the  Territory  of  Kansas  the 
provisions  of  sections  9,  10,  and  14,  respectively.] 

[U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  X.,  277-290.] 


No.  113.    Dred  Scott  Decision 

March  6,  1857 

THE  main  facts  of  the  Dred  Scott  case  (Dred  Scott  v.  Sandford)  are  as 
follows:  Dred  Scott  was  a  negro  slave,  the  property  of  Dr.  Emerson,  a  surgeon 
in  the  United  States  army.  In  1834  Scott  was  taken  by  his  owner  from  Mis 
souri  to  the  military  post  at  Rock  Island,  111.,  and  from  thence,  in  1836,  to 
Fort  Snelling,  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  within  the  limits  of  the 
territory  acquired  from  France  in  1803,  and  north  of  36°  30'.  There  Scott, 
with  the  consent  of  his  owner,  married.  In  1838  Emerson  took  Scott  and  his 
family  back  to  Missouri.  In  1847  Scott  brought  suit  in  the  circuit  court  of 
the  State  of  Missouri  to  recover  his  freedom,  on  the  ground  of  previous  resi- 


406  DRED   SCOTT  DECISION  [March  6 

dence  in  free  territory.  Judgment  was  rendered  in  his  favor,  but  was  re 
versed  in  1848  by  the  Missouri  supreme  court,  to  which  the  case  was  carried 
on  writ  of  error.  In  the  meantime,  Scott  and  his  family  passed  under  the  con 
trol  of  John  F.  A.  Sandford  of  New  York.  In  1853  Scott  brought  suit  for 
damages  against  Sandford,  in  the  United  States  circuit  court  for  the  district 
of  Missouri,  on  the  alleged  ground  of  illegal  detention  of  himself  and  family 
as  slaves.  The  defendant  pleaded  that  Scott,  being  a  negro,  and  born  of 
slave  parents,  could  not  be  a  citizen  of  Missouri,  and  hence  could  not  be  a  party 
to  a  suit  in  the  United  States  courts.  The  plea  was  overruled,  but  on  other 
grounds  Scott's  claim  to  freedom  was  denied,  and  judgment  rendered  against 
him.  The  case  was  then  appealed  to  the  United  States  Supreme  Court, 
where  it  was  twice  argued,  in  February  and  December,  1856.  The  decision 
was  rendered  March  6,  1857.  Chief  Justice  Taney  delivered  the  opinion  of 
the  court,  but  separate  opinions  were  read  by  each  of  the  eight  associate 
justices.  It  has  been  well  said  that  "to  ascertain  what  the  judgment  of  the 
court  really  was,  it  is  necessary  to  compare  the  nine  opinions  and  tabulate 
the  results."  The  legal  doctrine  of  the  decision,  so  far  as  the  question  of 
slavery  was  concerned,  was  set  aside  by  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  to  the 
Constitution. 

REFERENCES.  — •  Text  in  19  Howard,  393-633.  For  contemporary  dis 
cussions,  see  Benton's  Historical  and  Legal  Examination  of  the  Dred  Scott 
Case;  Gray  and  Lowell's  Legal  Review  of  the  Case  of  Dred  Scott;  Foot's 
Examination  of  the  Case  of  Dred  Scott. 

[Opinion  of  the  Court.] 

.  .  .    There  are  two  leading  questions  presented  by  the  record : 

1.  Had  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States  jurisdiction  to 
hear  and  determine  the  case  between  these  parties?     And, 

2.  If  it  had  jurisdiction,  is  the  judgment  it  has  given  erroneous 
or  not? 

The  plaintiff  in  error,  who  -was  also  the  plaintiff  in  the  court  be 
low,  was,  with  his  wife  and  children,  held  as  slaves  by  the  defend 
ant,  in  the  State  of  Missouri,  and  he  brought  this  action  in  the 
Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States  for  that  district,  to  assert  the 
title  of  himself  and  his  family  to  freedom. 

The  declaration  is  in  the  form  usually  adopted  in  that  State  to 
try  questions  of  this  description,  and  contains  the  averment  neces 
sary  to  give  the  court  jurisdiction ;  that  he  and  the  defendant  are 
citizens  of  different  States ;  that  is,  that  he  is  a  citizen  of  Missouri, 
and  the  defendant  a  citizen  of  New  York. 

The  defendant  pleaded  in  abatement  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
court,  that  the  plaintiff  was  not  a  citizen  of  the  State  of  Missouri, 
as  alleged  in  his  declaration,  being  a  negro  of  African  descent, 


1857]  DRED    SCOTT   DECISION  407 

whose  ancestors  were  of  pure  African  blood,  and  who  were  brought 
into  this  country  and  sold  as  slaves. 

To  this  plea  the  plaintiff  demurred,  and  the  defendant  joined  in 
demurrer.  The  court  overruled  the  plea,  and  gave  judgment  that 
the  defendant  should  answer  over.  And  he  therefore  put  in  sun 
dry  pleas  in  bar,  upon  which  issues  were  joined,  and  at  the  trial 
the  verdict  and  judgment  were  in  his  favor.  Whereupon  the 
plaintiff  brought  this  writ  of  error. 

Before  we  speak  of  the  pleas  in  bar,  it  will  be  proper  to  dispose 
of  the  questions  which  have  arisen  on  the  plea  in  abatement. 

That  plea  denies  the  right  of  the  plaintiff  to  sue  in  a  court  of 
the  United  States,  for  the  reasons  therein  stated. 

If  the  question  raised  by  it  is  legally  before  us,  and  the  court 
should  be  of  opinion  that  the  facts  stated  in  it  disqualify  the  plain 
tiff  from  becoming  a  citizen,  in  the  sense  in  which  that  word  is 
used  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  then  the  judgment 
of  the  Circuit  Court  is  erroneous,  and  must  be  reversed. 

It  is  suggested,  however,  that   this  plea  is  not  before  us  ... 

[But]  if  the  plea  and  demurrer,  and  judgment  of  the  court 
below  upon  it,  are  before  us  upon  this  record,  the  question  to  be 
decided  is,  whether  the  facts  stated  in  the  plea  are  sufficient  to 
show  that  the  plaintiff  is  not  entitled  to  sue  as  a  citizen  in  a  court 
of  the  United  States. 

We  think  they  are  before  us  ...  and  it  becomes,  therefore,  our 
duty  to  decide  whether  the  facts  stated  in  the  plea  are  or  are  not 
sufficient  to  show  that  the  plaintiff  is  not  entitled  to  sue  as  a  citi 
zen  in  a  court  of  the  United  States. 

This  is  certainly  a  very  serious  question,  and  one  that  now  for 
the  first  time  has  been  brought  for  decision  before  this  court. 
But  it  is  brought  here  by  those  who  have  a  right  to  bring  it,  and 
it  is  our  duty  to  meet  it  and  decide  it. 

The  question  is  simply  this :  can  a  negro,  whose  ancestors  were 
imported  into  this  country  and  sold  as  slaves,  become  a  member 
of  the  political  community  formed  and  brought  into  existence  by 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  as  such  become  entitled 
to  all  the  rights,  and  privileges,  and  immunities,  guarantied  by 
that  instrument  to  the  citizen.  One  of  these  rights  is  the  privilege 
of  suing  in  a  court  of  the  United  States  in  the  cases  specified  in 
the  Constitution.  .  .  .  The  court  must  be  understood  as  speak- 


408  DRED    SCOTT   DECISION  [March  6 

ing  in  this  opinion  ...  of  those  persons  [only]  who  are  the 
descendants  of  Africans  who  were  imported  into  this  country  and 
sold  as  slaves.  .  .  . 

We  proceed  to  examine  the  case  as  presented  by  the  pleadings. 

The  words  "people  of  the  United  States"  and  " citizens"  are 
synonymous  terms,  and  mean  the  same  thing.  They  both  describe 
the  political  body  who,  according  to  our  republican  institutions, 
form  the  sovereignty,  and  who  hold  the  power  and  conduct  the 
government  through  their  representatives.  They  are  what  we 
familiarly  call  the  " sovereign  people,"  and  every  citizen  is  one 
of  this  people,  and  a  constituent  member  of  this  sovereignty. 
The  question  before  us  is,  whether  the  class  of  persons  described 
in  the  plea  in  abatement  compose  a  portion  of  this  people,  and 
are  constituent  members  of  this  sovereignty?  We  think  they  are 
not,  and  that  they  are  not  included,  and  were  not  intended  to  be 
included,  under  the  word  "citizens"  in  the  Constitution,  and  can, 
therefore,  claim  none  of  the  rights  and  privileges  which  that 
instrument  provides  for  and  secures  to  citizens  of  the  United 
States.  On  the  contrary,  they  were  at  tha.t  time  considered  as 
a  subordinate  and  inferior  class  of  beings,  who  had  been  subju 
gated  by  the  dominant  race,  and  whether  emancipated  or  not,  yet 
remained  subject  to  their  authority,  and  had  no  rights  or  privileges 
but  such  as  those  who  held  the  power  and  the  government  might 
choose  to  grant  them.  .  .  . 

In  discussing  this  question,  we  must  not  confound  the  rights 
of  citizenship  which  a  state  may  confer  within  its  own  limits,  and 
the  rights  of  citizenship  as  a  member  of  the  Union.  It  does  not 
by  any  means  follow,  because  he  has  all  the  rights  and  privileges 
of  a  citizen  of  a  State,  that  he  must  be  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States.  He  may  have  all  of  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the 
citizen  of  a  State,  and  yet  not  be  entitled  to  the  rights  and  privi 
leges  of  a  citizen  in  any  other  State.  For,  previous  to  the  adop 
tion  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  every  State  had  the 
undoubted  right  to  confer  on  whomsoever  it  pleased  the  character 
of  a  citizen,  and  to  endow  him  with  all  its  rights.  But  this  char 
acter,  of  course,  was  confined  to  the  boundaries  of  the  State,  and 
gave  him  no  rights  or  privileges  in  other  States  beyond  those 
secured  to  him  by  the  laws  of  nations  and  the  comity  of  States. 
Nor  have  the  several  States  surrendered  the  power  of  conferring 


1857]  DRED    SCOTT   DECISION  409 

these  rights  and  privileges  by  adopting  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  Each  State  may  still  confer  them  upon  an  alien, 
or  any  one  it  thinks  proper,  or  upon  any  class  or  description  of 
persons;  yet  he  would  not  be  a  citizen  in  the  sense  in  which  that 
word  is  used  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  nor  entitled 
to  sue  as  such  in  one  of  its  courts,  nor  to  the  privileges  and  immu 
nities  of  a  citizen  in  the  other  States.  The  rights  which  he  would 
acquire  would  be  restricted  to  the  State  which  gave  them.  .  .  . 

It  is  very  clear,  therefore,  that  no  State  can,  by  any  Act  or  law 
of  its  own,  passed  since  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  intro 
duce  a  new  member  into  the  political  community  created  by  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States.  It  cannot  make  him  a  member 
of  this  community  by  making  him  a  member  of  its  own.  And  for 
the  same  reason  it  cannot  introduce  any  person,  or  description  of 
persons,  who  were  not  intended  to  be  embraced  in  this  new  politi 
cal  family,  which  the  Constitution  brought  into  existence,  but  were 
intended  to  be  excluded  from  it. 

The  question  then  arises,  whether  the  provisions  of  the  Consti 
tution,  in  relation  to  the  personal  rights  and  privileges  to  which 
the  citizen  of  a  State  should  be  entitled,  embraced  the  negro 
African  race,  at  that  time  in  this  country,  or  who  might  afterwards 
be  imported,  who  had  then  or  should  afterwards  be  made  free  in 
any  State;  and  to  put  it  in  the  power  of  a  single  State  to  make 
him  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  endue  him  with  the  full 
rights  of  citizenship  in  every  other  State  without  their  consent. 
Does  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  act  upon  him  when 
ever  he  shall  be  made  free  under  the  laws  of  a  State,  and  raised 
there  to  the  rank  of  a  citizen,  and  immediately  clothe  him  with 
all  the  privileges  of  a  citizen  in  every  other  State,  and  in  its  own 
courts  ? 

The  court  think  the  affirmative  of  these  propositions  cannot  be 
maintained.  And  if  it  cannot,  the  plaintiff  in  error  could  not  be  a 
citizen  of  the  State  of  Missouri,  within  the  meaning  of  the  Consti 
tution  of  the  United  States,  and,  consequently,  was  not  entitled  to 
sue  in  its  courts. 

It  is  true,  every  person,  and  every  class  and  description  of  per 
sons,  who  were  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution 
recognized  as  citizens  in  the  several  States,  became  also  citizens 
of  this  new  political  body;  but  none  other;  it  was  formed  by 


410  DRED    SCOTT   DECISION  [March  6 

them,  and  for  them  and  their  posterity,  but  for  no  one  else.  And 
the  personal  rights  and  privileges  guarantied  to  citizens  of  this 
new  sovereignty  were  intended  to  embrace  those  only  who  were 
then  members  of  the  several  state  communities,  or  who  should 
afterwards,  by  birthright  or  otherwise,  become  members,  accord 
ing  to  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  and  the  principles  on 
which  it  was  founded.  It  was  the  union  of  those  who  were  at 
that  time  members  of  distinct  and  separate  political  communities 
into  one  political  family,  whose  power,  for  certain  specified  pur 
poses,  was  to  extend  over  the  whole  territory  of  the  United  States. 
And  it  gave  to  each  citizen  rights  and  privileges  outside  of  his 
State  which  he  did  not  before  possess,  and  placed  him  in  every 
other  State  upon  a  perfect  equality  with  its  own  citizens  as  to 
rights  of  person  and  rights  of  property;  it  made  him  a  citizen 
of  the  United  States. 

It  becomes  necessary,  therefore,  to  determine  who  were  citizens 
of  the  several  States  when  the  Constitution  was  adopted.  And  in 
order  to  do  this,  we  must  recur  to  the  governments  and  institu 
tions  of  the  thirteen  Colonies,  when  they  separated  from  Great 
Britain  and  formed  new  sovereignties.  . .  .  We  must  inquire  who,  at 
that  time,  were  recognized  as  the  people  or  citizens  of  a  State  .  .  . 

In  the  opinion  of  the  court,  the  legislation  and  histories  of  the 
times,  and  the  language  used  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
show,  that  neither  the  class  of  persons  who  had  been  imported 
as  slaves,  nor  their  descendants,  whether  they  had  become  free 
or  not,  were  then  acknowledged  as  a  part  of  the  people,  nor 
intended  to  be  included  in  the  general  words  used  in  that  memo 
rable  instrument.  .  .  . 

The  legislation  of  the  different  Colonies  furnishes  positive  and 
indisputable  proof  of  this  fact.  .  .  . 

The  language  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  is  equally 
conclusive.  .  .  . 

This  state  of  public  opinion  had  undergone  no  change  when 
the  Constitution  was  adopted,  as  is  equally  evident  from  its  pro 
visions  and  language. 

The  legislation  of  the  States  therefore  shows,  in  a  manner  not 
to  be  mistaken,  the  inferior  and  subject  condition  of  that  race  at 
the  time  the  Constitution  was  adopted,  and  long  afterwards, 
throughout  the  thirteen  States  by  which  that  instrument  was 


1857]  DRED    SCOTT   DECISION  4H 

framed;  and  it  is  hardly  consistent  with  the  respect  due  to  these 
States,  to  suppose  that  they  regarded  at  that  time,  as  fellow-citizens 
and  members  of  the  sovereignty,  a  class  of  beings  whom  they  had 
thus  stigmatized;  whom,  as  we  are  bound,  out  of  respect  to  the 
State  sovereignties,  to  assume  they  had  deemed  it  just  and  neces 
sary  thus  to  stigmatize,  and  upon  whom  they  had  impressed  such 
deep  and  enduring  ma.ks  of  inferiority  and  degradation;  or  that 
when  they  met  in  convention  to  form  the  Constitution,  they  looked 
upon  them  as  a  portion  of  their  constituents,  or  designed  to  include 
them  in  the  provisions  so  carefully  inserted  for  the  security  and 
protection  of  the  liberties  and  rights  of  their  citizens.  It  cannot 
be  supposed  that  they  intended  to  secure  to  them  rights,  and 
privileges,  and  rank,  in  the  new  political  body  throughout  the 
Union,  which  every  one  of  them  denied  within  the  limits  of  its 
own  dominion.  More  especially,  it  cannot  be  believed  that  the 
large  slave-holding  States  regarded  them  as  included  in  the  word 
"  citizens,"  or  would  have  consented  to  a  constitution  which  might 
compel  them  to  receive  them  in  that  character  from  another  State. 
For  if  they  were  so  received,  and  entitled  to  the  privileges  and 
immunities  of  citizens,  it  would  exempt  them  from  the  operation 
of  the  special  laws  and  from  the  police  regulations  which  they 
considered  to  be  necessary  for  their  own  safety.  It  would  give 
to  persons  of  the  negro  race,  who  were  recognized  as  citizens  in 
any  one  State  of  the  Union,  the  right  to  enter  every  other  State 
whenever  they  pleased,  singly  or  in  companies,  without  pass  or 
passport,  and  without  obstruction,  to  sojourn  there  as  long  as  they 
pleased,  to  go  where  they  pleased  at  every  hour  of  the  day  or 
night  without  molestation,  unless  they  committed  some  violation 
of  law  for  which  a  white  man  would  be  punished;  and  it  would 
give  them  the  full  liberty  of  speech  in  public  and  in  private  upon 
all  subjects  upon  which  its  own  citizens  might  speak;  to  hold 
public  meetings  upon  political  affairs,  and  to  keep  and  carry  arms 
wherever  they  went.  And  all  of  this  would  be  done  in  the  face 
of  the  subject  race  of  the  same  color,  both  free  and  slaves,  inevi 
tably  producing  discontent  and  insubordination  among  them,  and 
endangering  the  peace  and  safety  of  the  State.  .  .  . 

To  all  this  mass  of  proof  we  have  still  to  add,  that  Congress 
has  repeatedly  legislated  upon  the  same  construction  of  the  Con 
stitution  that  we  have  given.  .  .  . 


412  DRED    SCOTT   DECISION  [March  6 

The  conduct  of  the  Executive  Department  of  the  government 
has  been  in  perfect  harmony  upon  this  subject  with  this  course  of 
legislation.  .  .  . 

But  it  is  said  that  a  person  may  be  a  citizen,  and  entitled  to 
that  character,  although  he  does  not  possess  all  the  rights  which 
may  belong  to  other  citizen? ;  as,  for  example,  the  right  to  vote, 
or  to  hold  particular  offices;  and  that  yet,  when  he  goes  into 
another  State,  he  is  entitled  to  be  recognized  there  as  a  citizen, 
although  the  State  may  measure  his  rights  by  the  rights  which  it 
allows  to  persons  of  a  like  character  or  class,  resident  in  the  State, 
and  refuse  to  him  the  full  rights  of  citizenship. 

This  argument  overlooks  the  language  of  the  provision  in  the 
Constitution  of  which  we  are  speaking. 

Undoubtedly,  a  person  may  be  a  citizen,  that  is,  a  member  of 
the  community  who  form  the  sovereignty,  although  he  exercises  no 
share  of  the  political  power,  and  is  incapacitated  from  holding  par 
ticular  offices.  .  .  . 

So,  too,  a  person  may  be  entitled  to  vote  by  the  law  of  the 
State,  who  is  not  a  citizen  even  of  the  State  itself.  And  in  some 
of  the  States  of  the  Union  foreigners  not  naturalized  are  allowed 
to  vote.  And  the  State  may  give  the  right  to  free  negroes  and 
mulattoes,  but  that  does  not  make  them  citizens  of  the  State,  and 
still  less  of  the  United  States.  And  the  provision  in  the  Consti 
tution  giving  privileges  and  immunities  in  other  States,  does  not 
apply  to  them. 

Neither  does  it  apply  to  a  person  who,  being  the  citizen  of  a 
State,  migrates  to  another  State.  For  then  he  becomes  subject 
to  the  laws  of  the  State  in  which  he  lives,  and  he  is  no  longer  a 
citizen  of  the  State  from  which  he  removed.  And  the  State  in 
which  he  resides  may  then,  unquestionably,  determine  his  status 
or  condition,  and  place  him  among  the  class  of  persons  who  are 
not  recognized  as  citizens,  but  belong  to  an  inferior  and  subject 
race ;  and  may  deny  him  the  privileges  and  immunities  enjoyed 
by  its  citizens. 

...  But  if  he  ranks  as  a  citizen  of  the  State  to  which  he  be 
longs,  within  the  meaning  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
then,  whenever  he  goes  into  another  State,  the  Constitution  clothes 
him,  as  to  the  rights  of  person,  with  all  the  privileges  and  im 
munities  which  belong  to  citizens  of  the  State.  And  if  persons 


1857]  DRED    SCOTT   DECISION  413 

of  the  African  race  are  citizens  of  a  state,  and  of  the  United  States, 
they  would  be  entitled  to  all  of  these  privileges  and  immunities 
in  every  State,  and  the  State  could  not  restrict  them;  for  they 
would  hold  these  privileges  and  immunities,  under  the  paramount 
authority  of  the  Federal  Government,  and  its  courts  would  be 
bound  to  maintain  and  enforce  them,  the  Constitution  and  laws 
of  the  State  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  And  if  the  State 
could  limit  or  restrict  them,  or  place  the  party  in  an  inferior  grade, 
this  clause  of  the  Constitution  would  be  unmeaning,  and  could 
have  no  operation;  and  would  give  no  rights  to  the  citizen  when 
in  another  State.  He  would  have  none  but  what  the  State  itself 
chose  to  allow  him.  This  is  evidently  not  the  construction  or 
meaning  of  the  clause  in  question.  It  guaranties  rights  to  the 
citizen,  and  the  State  cannot  withhold  them.  And  these  rights 
are  of  a  character  and  would  lead  to  consequences  which  make 
it  absolutely  certain  that  the  African  race  were  not  included  under 
the  name  of  citizens  of  a  State,  and  were  not  in  the  contemplation 
of  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  when  these  privileges  and  im 
munities  were  provided  for  the  protection  of  the  citizen  in  other 
States.  .  .  . 

And  upon  a  full  and  careful  consideration  of  the  subject,  the 
court  is  of  opinion  that,  upon  the  facts  stated  in  the  plea  in  abate 
ment,  Dred  Scott  was  not  a  citizen  of  Missouri  within  the  meaning 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  not  entitled  as  such 
to  sue  in  its  courts;  and,  consequently,  that  the  Circuit  Court 
had  no  jurisdiction  of  the  case,  and  that  the  judgment  on  the  plea 
in  abatement  is  erroneous.  .  .  . 

We  proceed,  therefore,  to  inquire  whether  the  facts  relied  on  by 
the  plaintiff  entitled  him  to  his  freedom.  .  .  . 

In  considering  this  part  of  the  controversy,  two  questions  arise : 
ist,  Was  he,  together  with  his  family,  free  in  Missouri  by  reason 
of  the  stay  in  the  territory  of  the  United  States  hereinbefore  men 
tioned?  And  2d,  If  they  were  not,  is  Scott  himself  free  by  reason 
of  his  removal  to  Rock  Island,  in  the  State  of  Illinois,  as  stated  in 
the  above  admissions? 

We  proceed  to  examine  the  first  question. 

The  Act  of  Congress,  upon  which  the  plaintiff  relies,  declares 
that  slavery  and  involuntary  servitude,  except  as  a  punishment  for 
crime,  shall  be  forever  prohibited  in  all  that  part  of  the  territory 


414  DRED   SCOTT  DECISION  [March  6 

ceded  by  France,  under  the  name  of  Louisiana,  which  lies  north 
of  thirty-six  degrees  thirty  minutes  north  latitude,  and  not  included 
within  the  limits  of  Missouri.  And  the  difficulty  which  meets  us 
at  the  threshold  of  this  part  of  the  inquiry  is,  whether  Congress 
was  authorized  to  pass  this  law  under  any  of  the  powers  granted 
to  it  by  the  Constitution ;  for  if  the  authority  is  not  given  by  that 
instrument,  it  is  the  duty  of  this  court  to  declare  it  void  and  inop 
erative,  and  incapable  of  conferring  freedom  upon  any  one  who  is 
held  as  a  slave  under  the  laws  of  any  one  of  the  States. 

The  counsel  for  the  plaintiff  has  laid  much  stress  upon  that  arti 
cle  in  the  Constitution  which  confers  on  Congress  the  power  "to 
dispose  of  and  make  all  needful  rules  and  regulations  respecting 
the  territory  or  other  property  belonging  to  the  United  States  ..." 

It  seems,  however,  to  be  supposed,  that  there  is  a  difference 
between  property  in  a  slave  and  other  property,  and  that  different 
rules  may  be  applied  to  it  in  expounding  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  And  the  laws  and  usages  of  nations,  and  the  writ 
ings  of  eminent  jurists  upon  the  relation  of  master  and  slave  and 
their  mutual  rights  and  duties,  and  the  powers  which  governments 
may  exercise  over  it,  have  been  dwelt  upon  in  the  argument. 

But  in  considering  the  question  before  us,  it  must  be  borne  in 
mind  that  there  is  no  law  of  nations  standing  between  the  people 
of  the  United  State;-  and  their  government  and  interfering  with 
their  relation  to  each  other.  .  .  .  And  no  laws  or  usages  of  othej* 
nations,  or  reasoning  of  statesmen  or  jurists  upon  the  relations 
of  master  and  slave,  can  enlarge  the  powers  of  the  government, 
or  take  from  the  citizens  the  rights  they  have  reserved.  And  if 
the  Constitution  recognizes  the  right  of  property  of  the  master 
in  a  slave,  and  makes  no  distinction  between  that  description  of 
property  and  other  property  owned  by  a  citizen,  no  tribunal, 
acting  under  the  authority  of  the  United  States,  whether  it  be 
legislative,  executive,  or  judicial,  has  a  right  to  draw  such  a  dis 
tinction,  or  deny  to  it  the  benefit  of  the  provisions  and  guarantees 
which  have  been  provided  for  the  protection  of  private  property 
against  the  encroachments  of  the  government. 

Now  .  .  .  the  right  of  property  in  a  slave  is  distinctly  and  ex 
pressly  affirmed  in  the  Constitution.  The  right  to  traffic  in  it, 
like  an  ordinary  article  of  merchandise  and  property,  was  guaran 
tied  to  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  in  every  State  that  might 


1857]  DRED   SCOTT  DECISION  415 

desire  it,  for  twenty  years.  And  the  government  in  express  terms 
is  pledged  to  protect  it  in  all  future  time,  if  the  slave  escapes  from 
his  owner.  .  .  .  And  no  word  can  be  found  in  the  Constitution 
which  gives  Congress  a  greater  power  over  slave  property,  or  which 
entitles  property  of  that  kind  to  less  protection  than  property  of 
any  other  description.  The  only  power  conferred  is  the  power 
coupled  with  the  duty  of  guarding  and  protecting  the  owner  in  his 
rights. 

Upon  these  considerations,  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  court  that 
the  Act  of  Congress  which  prohibited  a  citizen  from  holding  and 
owning  property  of  this  kind  in  the  territory  of  the  United  States 
north  of  the  line  therein  mentioned,  is  not  warranted  by  the  Con 
stitution,  and  is  therefore  void;  and  that  neither  Dred  Scott  him 
self,  nor  any  of  his  family,  were  made  free  by  being  carried  into 
this  territory;  even  if  they  had  been  carried  there  by  the  owner, 
with  the  intention  of  becoming  a  permanent  resident.  .  .  . 

But  there  is  another  point  in  the  case  which  depends  on  state 
power  and  state  law.  And  it  is  contended,  on  the  part  of  the 
plaintiff,  that  he  is  made  free  by  being  taken  to  Rock  Island,  in 
the  State  of  Illinois,  independently  of  his  residence  in  the  territory 
of  the  United  States;  and  being  so  made  free,  he  was  not  again 
reduced  to  a  state  of  slavery  by  being  brought  back  to  Missouri. 

...  as  Scott  was  a  slave  when  taken  into  the  State  of  Illinois 
by  his  owner,  and  was  there  held  as  such,  and  brought  back  in 
that  character,  his  status,  as  free  or  slave,  depended  on  the  laws 
of  Missouri,  and  not  of  Illinois. 

It  has,  however,  been  urged  in  the  argument,  that  by  the  laws 
of  Missouri  he  was  free  on  his  return  ...  But  ...  we  are 
satisfied,  upon  a  careful  examination  of  all  the  cases  decided  in 
the  State  courts  of  Missouri  referred  to,  that  it  is  now  firmly 
settled  by  the  decisions  of  the  highest  court  in  the  State,  that  Scott 
and  his  family  upon  their  return  were  not  free,  but  were,  by  the 
laws  of  Missouri,  the  property  of  the  defendant;  and  that  the 
Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States  had  no  jurisdiction,  when, 
by  the  laws  of  the  State,  the  plaintiff  was  a  slave,  and  not  a 
citizen.  .  .  . 

Upon  the  whole,  therefore,  it  is  the  judgment  of  this  court, 
that  it  appears  by  the  record  before  us  that  the  plaintiff  in  error 
is  not  a  citizen  of  Missouri,  in  the  sense  in  which  that  word  is 


416  DRED    SCOTT   DECISION  [March  6 

used  in  the  Constitution;  and  that  the  Circuit  Court  of  the 
United  States,  for  that  reason,  had  no  jurisdiction  in  the  case, 
and  could  give  no  judgment  in  it. 

Its  judgment  for  the  defendant  must,  consequently,  be  reversed, 
and  a  mandate  issued  directing  the  suit  to  be  dismissed  for  want 
of  jurisdiction. 

JUSTICE  CURTIS'S  DISSENTING  OPINION 

[After  a  learned  discussion  of  law  points,  the  opinion  con 
tinues:] 

So  that,  under  the  allegations  contained  in  this  plea,  and  ad 
mitted  by  the  demurrer,  the  question  is,  whether  any  person  of 
African  descent,  whose  ancestors  were  sold  as  slaves  in  the  United 
States,  can  be  a  citizen  of  the  United  States.  If  any  such  person 
can  be  a  citizen,  this  plaintiff  has  the  right  to  the  judgment  of 
the  court  that  he  is  so;  for  no  cause  is  shown  by  the  plea  why  he 
is  not  so,  except  his  descent  and  the  slavery  of  his  ancestors. 

The  ist  Section  of  the  26.  Article  of  the  Constitution  uses  the 
language,  "a  citizen  of  the  United  States  at  the  time  of  the  adop 
tion  of  the  Constitution."  One  mode  of  approaching  this  ques 
tion  is,  to  inquire  who  were  citizens  of  the  United  States  at  the 
time  of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution. 

Citizens  of  the  United  States  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the 
Constitution  can  have  been  no  other  than  the  citizens  of  the  United 
States  under  the  Confederation.  .  .  . 

To  determine  whether  any  free  persons,  descended  from  Africans 
held  in  slavery,  were  citizens  of  the  United  States  under  the  Con 
federation,  and  consequently  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  it  is  only  necessary  to  know 
whether  any  such  persons  were  citizens  of  either  of  the  States 
under  the  Confederation  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the  Con 
stitution. 

Of  this  there  can  be  no  doubt.  At  the  time  of  the  ratification 
of  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  all  free  native-born  inhabitants  of 
the  States  of  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  New  York,  New 
Jersey  and  North  Carolina,  though  descended  from  African  slaves, 
were  rot  only  citizens  of  those  States,  but  such  of  them  as  had  the 
other  necessary  qualifications  possessed  the  franchise  of  electors, 
on  equal  terms  with  other  citizens.  .  .  . 


1857]  DRED   SCOTT   DECISION  417 

I  can  find  nothing  in  the  Constitution  which,  proprio  vigore, 
deprives  of  their  citizenship  any  class  of  persons  who  were  citizens 
of  the  United  States  at  the  time  of  its  adoption,  or  who  should  be 
native-born  citizens  of  any  State  after  its  adoption ;  nor  any  power 
enabling  Congress  to  disfranchise  persons  born  on  the  soil  of  any 
State,  and  entitled  to  citizenship  of  such  State  by  its  constitution 
and  laws.  And  my  opinion  is,  that,  under  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  every  free  person  born  on  the  soil  of  a  State,  who  is 
a  citizen  of  that  State  by  force  of  its  Constitution  or  laws,  is  also  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States.  .  .  . 

The  Constitution  having  recognized  the  rule  that  persons  born 
within  the  several  States  are  citizens  of  the  United  States,  one  of 
four  things  must  be  true : 

FIRST.  That  the  Constitution  itself  has  described  what  native- 
born  persons  shall  or  shall  not  be  citizens  of  the  United  States ;  or, 

Second.     That  it  has  empowered  Congress  to  do  so ;  or, 

Third.  That  all  free  persons,  born  within  the  several  States, 
are  citizens  of  the  United  States ;  or, 

Fourth.  That  it  is  left  to  each  State  to  determine  what  free 
persons,  born  within  its  limits,  shall  be  citizens  of  such  State,  and 
thereby  be  citizens  of  the  United  States.  .  .  . 

The  conclusions  at  which  I  have  arrived  on  this  part  of  the  case 
are: 

First.  That  the  free  native-born  citizens  of  each  State  are 
citizens  of  the  United  States. 

Second.  That  as  free  colored  persons  born  within  some  of  the 
States  are  citizens  of  those  States,  such  persons  are  also  citizens  of 
the  United  States. 

Third.  That  every  such  citizen,  residing  in  any  State,  has  the 
right  to  sue  and  is  liable  to  be  sued  in  the  federal  courts,  as  a 
citizen  of  that  State  in  which  he  resides. 

Fourth.  That  as  the  plea  to  the  jurisdiction  in  this  case  shows 
no  facts,  except  that  the  plaintiff  was  of  African  descent,  and  his 
ancestors  were  sold  as  slaves,  and  as  these  facts  are  not  inconsist 
ent  with  his  citizenship  of  the  United  States,  and  his  residence  in 
the  State  of  Missouri,  the  plea  to  the  jurisdiction  was  bad,  and  the 
judgment  of  the  Circuit  Court  overruling  it,  was  correct. 

I  dissent,  therefore,  from  that  part  of  the  opinion  of  the  majority 
of  the  court,  in  which  it  is  held  that  a  person  of  African  descent 

2E 


41 8  DRED   SCOTT  DECISION  [March  6 

cannot  be  a  citizen  of  the  United  States;  and  I  regret  I  must  go 
further,  and  dissent  both  from  what  I  deem  their  assumption  of 
authority  to  examine  the  constitutionality  of  the  Act  of  Congress 
commonly  called  the  Missouri  Compromise  Act,  and  the  grounds 
and  conclusions  announced  in  their  opinion.  .  .  . 

But  as,  in  my  opinion,  the  Circuit  Court  had  jurisdiction,  I  am 
obliged  to  consider  the  question  whether  its  judgment  on  the 
merits  of  the  case  should  stand  or  be  reversed. 

The  residence  of  the  plaintiff  in  the  State  of  Illinois,  and  the 
residence  of  himself  and  his  wife  in  the  Territory  acquired  from 
France  lying  north  of  latitude  thirty-six  degrees  thirty  minutes, 
and  north  of  the  State  of  Missouri,  are  each  relied  on  by  the 
plaintiff  in  error.  As  the  residence  in  the  Territory  affects  the 
plaintiff's  wife  and  children  as  well  as  himself,  I  must  inquire  what 
was  its  effect. 

The  general  question  may  be  stated  to  be,  whether  the  plaintiff's 
status,  as  a  slave,  was  so  changed  by  his  residence  within  that  Ter 
ritory,  that  he  was  not  a  slave  in  the  State  of  Missouri,  at  the  time 
this  action  was  brought. 

In  such  cases,  two  inquiries  arise,  which  may  be  confounded,  but 
should  be  kept  distinct. 

The  first  is,  what  was  the  law  of  the  Territory  into  which  the 
master  and  slave  went,  respecting  the  relation  between  them  ? 

The  second  is,  whether  the  State  of  Missouri  recognizes  and 
allows  the  effect  of  that  law  of  the  Territory,  on  the  status  of  the 
slave,  on  his  return  within  its  jurisdiction.  .  .  . 

To  avoid  misapprehension  on  this  important  and  difficult  sub 
ject,  I  will  state,  distinctly,  the  conclusions  at  which  I  have  arrived. 
They  are : 

First.  The  rules  of  international  law  respecting  the  emancipa 
tion  of 'slaves,  by  the  rightful  operation  of  the  laws  of  another 
State  or  country  upon  the  status  of  the  slave,  while  resident  in  such 
foreign  State  or  country,  are  part  of  the  common  law  of  Missouri, 
and  have  not  been  abrogated  by  any  statute  law  of  that  State. 

Second.  The  laws  of  the  United  States,  constitutionally  enacted, 
which  operated  directly  on  and  changed  the  status  of  a  slave  com 
ing  into  the  Territory  of  Wisconsin  with  his  master,  who  went 
thither  to  reside  for  an  indefinite  length  of  time,  in  the  performance 
of  his  duties  as  an  officer  of  the  United  States,  had  a  rightful  opera- 


i8sr]  DRED   SCOTT  DECISION  419 

tion  on  the  status  of  the  slave,  and  it  is  in  conformity  with  the 
rules  of  international  law  that  this  change  of  status  should  be 
recognized  everywhere. 

Third.  The  laws  of  the  United  States,  in  operation  in  the  Ter 
ritory  of  Wisconsin  at  the  time  of  the  plaintiff's  residence  there, 
did  act  directly  on  the  status  of  the  plaintiff,  and  change  his  status 
to  that  of  a  free  man.  .  .  . 

Fifth.  That  the  consent  of  the  master  that  his  slave,  residing 
in  a  country  which  does  not  tolerate  slavery,  may  enter  into  a 
lawful  contract  of  marriage,  attended  with  the  civil  rights  and 
duties  which  belong  to  that  condition,  is  an  effectual  act  of  eman 
cipation.  .  .  . 

I  have  thus  far  assumed,  merely  for  the  purpose  of  the  argu 
ment,  that  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  respecting  slavery  in  this 
Territory,  were  Constitutionally  enacted  by  Congress.  It  remains 
to  inquire  whether  they  are  constitutional  and  binding  laws.  .  .  . 

But  it  is  insisted,  that  whatever  other  power  Congress  may  have 
respecting  the  Territory  of  the  United  States,  the  subject  of  negro 
slavery  forms  an  exception.  .  .  . 

While  the  regulation  is  one  " respecting  the  Territory,"  while  it 
is,  in  the  judgment  of  Congress,  "a  needful  regulation,"  and  is 
thus  completely  within  the  words  of  the  grant,  while  no  other 
clause  of  the  Constitution  can  be  shown,  which  requires  the  inser 
tion  of  an  exception  respecting  slavery,  and  while  the  practical 
construction  for  a  period  of  upwards  of  fifty  years  forbids  such  an 
exception,  it  would,  in  my  opinion,  violate  every  sound  rule  of 
interpretation  to  force  that  exception  into  the  Constitution  upon 
the  strength  of  abstract  political  reasoning,  which  we  are  bound 
to  believe  the  people  of  the  United  States  thought  insufficient  to 
induce  them  to  limit  the  power  of  Congress,  because  what  they 
have  said  contains  no  such  limitation.  .  .  . 

But  it  is  further  insisted  that  the  Treaty  of  1803,  between  the 
United  States  and  France,  by  which  this  Territory  was  acquired, 
has  so  restrained  the  constitutional  powers  of  Congress,  that  it 
cannot,  by  law,  prohibit  the  introduction  of  slavery  into  that  part 
of  this  Territory  north  and  west  of  Missouri,  and  north  of  thirty- 
six  degrees  thirty  minutes  north  latitude. 

By  a  treaty  with  a  foreign  nation,  the  United  States  may  right 
fully  stipulate  that  the  Congress  will  or  will  not  exercise  its  legis- 


420  LECOMPTON    CONSTITUTION  [November  7 

lative  power  in  some  particular  manner,  on  some  particular  sub 
ject.  .  .  .  But  that  a  treaty  with  a  foreign  nation  can  deprive 
the  Congress  of  any  part  of  the  legislative  power  conferred  by  the 
people,  so  that  it  no  longer  can  legislate  as  it  was  empowered  by 
the  Constitution  to  do,  I  more  than  doubt.  .  .  . 

But,  in  my  judgment,  this  Treaty  contains  no  stipulation  in  any 
manner  affecting  the  action  of  the  United  States  respecting  the 
Territory  in  question.  ...  In  my  opinion,  this  Treaty  has  no 
bearing  on  the  present  question. 

For  these  reasons,  I  am  of  opinion  that  so  much  of  the  several 
Acts  of  Congress  as  prohibited  slavery  and  involuntary  servitude 
within  that  part  of  the  Territory  of  Wisconsin  lying  north  of  thirty- 
six  degrees  thirty  minutes  north  latitude,  and  west  of  the  River 
Mississippi,  were  constitutional  and  valid  laws.  .  .  . 

In  my  opinion,  the  judgment  of  the  Circuit  Court  should  be  re 
versed,  and  the  cause  remanded  for  a  new  trial. 


No.  114.     Lecompton  Constitution 

November  7,  1857 

A  FREE  State  convention  sitting  at  Topeka,  in  Kansas  Territory,  from  Oct. 
23  to  Nov.  5,  1855,  drew  up  a  State  constitution  prohibiting  slavery,  which 
was  submitted  to  the  people  Dec.  15,  and  adopted  by  a  vote  of  1,731  to  46, 
only  free  State  men  voting.  A  bill  to  admit  Kansas  under  this  constitution 
passed  the  House  July  3,  1856,  but  failed  in  the  Senate.  A  free  State  legis 
lature,  assuming  to  meet  under  the  Topeka  constitution,  was  dispersed  by  the 
United  States  troops,  and  a  period  of  civil  war  in  the  Territory  followed. 
September  5,  1857,  a  convention  called  by  the  proslavery  legislature  of  the 
Territory  met  at  Lecomptci  and  drew  up  a  constitution,  which  was  sub 
mitted  to  the  people  for  adof *.ion  "with  slavery"  or  "without  slavery."  The 
free  State  men,  who  objectei  V  to  having  the  Lecompton  constitution  on  any 
terms,  refrained  from  voting  and  Dec.  21  the  constitution  "with  slavery" 
was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  6,1  ^3,  against  589  for  the  constitution  "without 
slavery."  In  the  meantime,  h  ->wever,  the  free  State  party  had  got  control  of 
the  Territorial  legislature,  and  Jan.  4,  1858,  the  constitution  was  rejected  by 
a  majority  of  more  than  10,000  A  bill  to  admit  Kansas  under  the  Lecomp 
ton  constitution  passed  the  Ser  ate  March  23,  1858,  by  a  vote  of  33  to  25. 
April  i  the  House,  by  a  vote  of  1  -20  to  112,  substituted  a  bill  resubmitting  the 
constitution  to  popular  vote.  '  Che  two  Houses  then  compromised  on  the 
"English  bill"  (act  of  May  4,  1858),  "according  to  which  a  substitute  for 
the  land  ordinance  of  the  Lecompton  constitution  was  to  be  submitted  to 


1857]  LECOMPTON   CONSTITUTION  421 

popular  vote  in  Kansas;  if  it  was  accepted,  the  State  was  to  be  considered  as 
admitted;  if  it  was  rejected,  the  Lecomptcn  constitution  was  to  be  considered 
as  rejected  by  the  people,  and  no  further  constitutional  convention  was  to  be 
held  until  a  census  should  have  she  vn  that  the  population  of  the  Territory 
equalled  or  exceeded  that  required  i'c*.  a  representative "  (Johnston).  August 
3  the  land  ordinance  was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  11,088  to  1,788.  The  Wyan- 
dotte  constitution,  prohibiting  sla\ery,  was  ratified  by  popular  vote  Oct.  4, 
1859.  Under  this  constitution  Kansas  was  admitted  to  the  Union  Jan.  29, 
1861. 

The  following  extracts  comprise  the  provisions  of  the  Lecompton  constitu 
tion  relating  to  slavery,  the  status  of  negroes,  and  ratification. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Poore's  Federal  and  State  Constitutions,  I.,  598- 
613,  passim.  For  the  struggle  in  Congress  over  the  admission  of  Kansas,  see 
the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  34th,  35th,  and  36th  Cong.,  and  the  Cong. 
Globe. 

ARTICLE  V. 

SEC.  25.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  all  civil  officers  of  this  State  to 
use  due  diligence  in  the  securing  and  rendition  of  persons  held 
to  service  or  labor  in  this  State,  either  of  the  States  or  Territories 
of  the  United  States ;  and  the  legislature  shall  enact  such  laws  as 
may  be  necessary  for  the  honest  and  faithful  carrying  out  of  this 
provision  of  the  constitution. 

ARTICLE  VII. 

SLAVERY. 

SECTION  i.  The  right  of  property  is  before  and  higher  than 
any  constitutional  sanction,  and  the  right  of  the  owner  of  a  slave 
to  such  slave  and  its  increase  is  the  same,  and  as  inviolable  as 
the  right  of  the  owner  of  any  property  whatever. 

SEC.  2.  The  legislature  shall  have  no  power  to  pass  laws  for 
the  emancipation  of  slaves  without  the  consent  of  the  owners,  or 
without  paying  the  owners  previous  to  their  emancipation  a  full 
equivalent  in  money  for  the  slaves  so  emancipated.  They  shall 
have  no  power  to  prevent  emigrants  to  the  State  from  bringing 
with  them  such  persons  as  are  deemed  slaves  by  the  laws  of  any 
one  of  the  United  States  or  Territories,  so  long  as  any  person  of 
the  same  age  or  description  shall  be  continued  in  slavery  by  the 
laws  of  this  State:  Provided,  That  such  person  or  slave  be  the 
bona-Jide  property  of  such  emigrants:  And  provided  also,  That 
laws  may  be  passed  to  prohibit  the  introduction  into  this  State  of 


422  LECOMPTON    CONSTITUTION  [November] 

slaves  who  have  committed  high  crimes  in  other  States  or  Terri 
tories.  They  shall  have  power  to  pass  laws  to  permit  the  owners 
of  slaves  to  emancipate  them,  saving  the  rights  of  creditors,  and 
preventing  them  from  becoming  a  public  charge.  They  shall  have 
power  to  oblige  the  owners  of  slaves  to  treat  them  with  humanity, 
to  provide  for  them  necessary  food  and  clothing,  to  abstain  from 
all  injuries  to  them  extending  to  life  or  limb,  and,  in  case  of  their 
neglect  or  refusal  to  comply  with  the  direction  of  such  laws,  to 
have  such  slave  or  slaves  sold  for  the  benefit  of  the  owner  or 
owners. 

SEC.  3.  In  the  prosecution  of  slaves  for  crimes  of  higher  grade 
than  petit  larceny,  the  legislature  shall  have  no  power  to  deprive 
them  of  an  impartial  trial  by  a  petit  jury. 

SEC.  4.  Any  person  who  shall  maliciously  dismember  or  de 
prive  a  slave  of  life  shall  suffer  such  punishment  as  would  be 
inflicted  in  case  the  like  offence  had  been  committed  on  a  free 
white  person,  and  on  the  like  proof,  except  in  case  of  insurrection 
of  such  slave. 

BILL  OF  RIGHTS. 

23.  Free  negroes  shall  not  be  permitted  to  live  in  this  State 
under  any  circumstances. 

SCHEDULE. 

SEC.  7.  This  constitution  shall  be  submitted  to  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States  at  its  next  ensuing  session  .  .  . 

Before  this  constitution  shall  be  sent  to  Congress,  asking  for 
admission  into  the  Union  as  a  State,  it  shall  be  submitted  to  all 
the  white  male  inhabitants  of  this  Territory,  for  approval  or  dis 
approval,  as  follows:  .  .  .  The  voting  shall  be  by  ballot.  The 
judges  of  said  election  shall  cause  to  be  kept  two  poll-books  by 
two  clerks,  by  them  appointed.  The  ballots  cast  at  said  election 
shall  be  endorsed,  " Constitution  with  slavery,"  and  "Constitu 
tion  with  no  slavery."  .  .  .  The  president  [of  the  convention] 
with  two  or  more  members  of  this  convention,  shall  examine 
said  poll-books,  and  if  it  shall  appear  upon  said  examination  that 
a  majority  of  the  legal  votes  cast  at  said  election  be  in  favor  of  the 
"  Constitution  with  slavery,"  he  shall  immediately  have  the  same 
transmitted  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  as  hereinbefore 


1857]  ORDINANCE   OF  SECESSION  423 

provided;  but  if,  upon  such  examination  of  said  poll-books,  it 
shall  appear  that  a  majority  of  the  legal  votes  cast  at  said  election 
be  in  favor  of  the  "Constitution  with  no  slavery,"  then  the  article 
providing  for  slavery  shall  be  stricken  from  this  constitution  by  the 
president  of  this  convention,  and  slavery  shall  no  longer  exist  in 
the  State  of  Kansas,  except  that  the  right  of  property  in  slaves 
now  in  this  Territory  shall  in  no  manner  be  interferred  with, 
and  shall  have  transmitted  the  constitution,  so  ratified,  (to  Con 
gress  the  constitution,  so  ratified,)  to  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  as  hereinbefore  provided.  .  .  . 


No.   115.     South  Carolina  Ordinance  of 
Secession 

December  20,  1860 

IT  was  clear  that  the  success  of  the  Republicans  in  the  election  of  1860 
would  mean  the  exclusion  of  slavery  from  the  Territories.  The  legislature  of 
South  Carolina  met  Nov.  4  to  choose  presidential  electors,  and  remained  in 
session  until  it  was  known  that  Lincoln  had  been  elected.  On  the  7th  an  act 
was  passed  calling  a  State  convention,  to  meet  at  Columbia  Dec.  17,  to  con 
sider  the  question  of  withdrawing  from  the  Union.  The  convention  met  at 
the  time  and  place  appointed,  but  adjourned  to  Charleston  because  of  an  epi 
demic  of  small-pox  in  Columbia.  On  the  2oth  an  ordinance  of  secession  was 
unanimously  adopted  by  the  one  hundred  and  sixty-nine  delegates  present, 
and  the  president  of  the  convention  proclaimed  South  Carolina  to  be  "an 
independent  Commonwealth."  On  the  2ist  the  Representatives  of  the  State 
in  Congress  announced  their  withdrawal  from  the  House.  A  "Declaration 
of  the  immediate  causes  which  induce  and  justify  the  secession  of  South 
Carolina  from  the  Federal  Union"  was  adopted  on  the  24th. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  War  of  the  Rebellion,  Official  Records,  Series  I., 
vol.  I.,  p.  no.  For  the  proceedings  of  the  convention,  see  Amer.  Annual 
Cyclopadia,  1861,  pp.  646-657;  Moore's  Rebellion  Record,  I.,  Doc.  2.  The 
declaration  of  causes,  and  ordinances  of  secession  passed  by  the  other  Southern 
States,  are  collected  in  Amer.  Hist.  Leaflets,  No.  12.  On  the  steps  prelimi 
nary  to  secession,  see  Pike's  First  Blows  of  the  Civil  War.  Buchanan  de 
fended  his  official  conduct  during  1 860-61  in  The  Administration  on  the  Eve 
of  the  Rebellion  (London,  1865) ;  a  later  defence  is  in  Curtis's  Buchanan,  II., 
chap.  15. 


424      CONSTITUTION   OF   CONFEDERATE   STATES     [March  n 

AN  ORDINANCE  to  dissolve  the  union  between  the  State  of  South  Caro 
lina  and  the  other  States  united  with  her  under  the  compact  entitled  "  The 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  of  America  "  : 

We,  the  people  of  the  State  of  South  Carolina  in  convention 
assembled,  do  declare  and  ordain,  and  it  is  hereby  declared  and 
ordained,  that  the  ordinance  adopted  by  us  in  convention  on  ... 
[May  23,  1788]  .  .  .  ,  whereby  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  of  America  was  ratified,  and  also  all  acts  and%parts  of  acts 
of  the  general  assembly  of  this  State  ratifying  amendments  of  the 
said  Constitution,  are  hereby  repealed;  and  that  the  union  now 
subsisting  between  South  Carolina  and  other  States,  under  the 
name  of  the  "  United  States  of  America,"  is  hereby  dissolved. 


No.   1 1 6.    Constitution    of   the    Confederate 
States  of  America 

March  n,  1861 

THE  secession  of  South  Carolina  was  followed,  Jan.  9,  1861,  by  similar 
action  in  Mississippi.  Ordinances  of  secession  were  adopted  by  Florida 
Jan.  10,  Alabama  Jan.  n,  Georgia  Jan.  19,  and  Louisiana  Jan.  26.  A  reso 
lution  of  the  legislature  of  Mississippi,  Jan.  19,  in  favor  of  a  congress  of  repre 
sentatives  from  the  seceded  States  to  form  a  provisional  government,  was 
endorsed  by  the  other  States,  and  Feb.  8  a  congress  at  Montgomery,  Ala., 
adopted  a  provisional  constitution.  A  permanent  constitution  was  adopted 
March  u,  and  signed  by  delegates  from  each  of  the  States  above  named,  and 
by  those  of  Texas,  which  had  passed  an  ordinance  of  secession  Feb.  i.  The 
constitution  was  ratified  by  conventions  in  the  several  States.  The  first  elec 
tion  under  the  permanent  constitution  was  held  Nov.  6,  1861.  The  congress 
under  the  permanent  constitution  met  Feb.  18,  1862,  superseding  the  provi 
sional  congress.  The  Confederate  States  of  America  were  accorded  bellig 
erent  rights  by  England  and  France  through  proclamations  of  neutrality,  but 
were  never  formally  recognized  as  a  government,  either  by  the  United  States 
or  by  any  foreign  power. 

The  permanent  constitution  was  modelled  after  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  and  is  in  the  main  a  reproduction  of  that  instrument,  with 
verbal  or  minor  changes  necessary  to  adapt  it  to  the  style  of  the  new  confed 
eracy.  All  the  sections  embodying  other  than  verbal  or  formal  changes  are 
given  in  the  extracts  following,  with  references  to  facilitate  comparison  be 
tween  the  two  documents. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Conf,  Stat.  at  Large  (Richmond,  1864,  ed.  Mat- 


1861]        CONSTITUTION   OF   CONFEDERATE   STATES          425 

thews),  1 1-22,  where  is  also  the  provisional  constitution.  A  convenient  re 
print,  with  the  texts  of  the  Confederate  constitution  and  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  in  parallel  columns,  is  in  Davis's  Confederate  Government, 
I.,  648-673.  The  archives  of  the  Confederate  government  are  in  the  pos 
session  of  the  War  Department.  The  official  acts  of  the  Confederacy  are 
best  followed  in  the  Journal  of  the  Congress  (Sen.  Docs.,  58th  Cong.,  2d  Sess., 
vols.  25-31),  and  Richardson's  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Confederacy; 
see  also  Moore's  Rebellion  Record;  Amer.  Annual  Cyclopcedia,  1861-65; 
McPherson's  Hist,  of  the  Rebellion. 

WE,  the  people  of  the  Confederate  States,  each  State  acting  in 
its  sovereign  and  independent  character,  in  order  to  form  a  per 
manent  federal  government,  establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tran 
quillity,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our 
posterity  —  invoking  the  favor  and  guidance  of  Almighty  God  — 
do  ordain  and  establish  this  Constitution  for  the  Confederate  States 
of  America.1 

ARTICLE  I. 


SECTION  2. 

i.  The  House  of  Representatives  shall  be  composed  of  mem 
bers  chosen  every  second  year  by  the  people  of  the  several  States; 
and  the  electors  in  each  State  shall  be  citizens  of  the  Confederate 
States,  and  have  the  qualifications  requisite  for  electors  of  the 
most  numerous  branch  of  the  State  Legislature;  but  no  person  of 
foreign  birth,  not  a  citizen  of  the  Confederate  States,  shall  be 

allowed  to  vote  for  any  officer,  civil  or  political,  State  or  Federal.2 
*  *  *  ##  *  ## 

3.  Representatives  and  direct  taxes  shall  be  apportioned  among 
the  several  States,  which  may  be  included  within  this  Confederacy, 
according  to  their  respective  numbers,  which  shall  be  determined, 
by  adding  to  the  whole  number  of  free  persons,  including  those 
bound  to  service  for  a  term  of  years,  and  excluding  Indians  not 
taxed,  three-fifths  of  all  slaves.  The  actual  enumeration  shall  be 
made  within  three  years  after  the  first  meeting  of  the  Congress 

1  [Cf.  Const.  U.  S.,  Preamble.] 

2  [Cf.  Const.  U.  S.,  Art.  I.,  Sec.  2.] 


426      CONSTITUTION   OF   CONFEDERATE  STATES     [March  n 

of  the  Confederate  States,  and  within  every  subsequent  term  of 
ten  years,  in  such  manner  as  they  shall  by  law  direct.  The  num 
ber  of  Representatives  shall  not  exceed  one  for  every  fifty  thou 
sand,  but  each  State  shall  have  at  least  one  Representative;  and 
until  such  enumeration  shall  be  made,  the  State  of  South  Carolina 
shall  be  entitled  to  choose  six;  the  State  of  Georgia  ten;  the 
State  of  Alabama  nine;  the  State  of  Florida  two;  the  State  of 
Mississippi  seven;  the  State  of  Louisiana  six;  and  the  State  of 

Texas  six.1 

******** 

5.  The  House  of  Representatives  shall  choose  their  Speaker 
and  other  officers ;  and  shall  have  the  sole  power  of  impeachment ; 
except  that  any  judicial  or  other  Federal  officer,  resident  and  act 
ing  solely  within  the  limits  of  any  State,  may  be  impeached  by  a 
vote  of  two-thirds  of  both  branches  of  the  Legislature  thereof.2 

SECTION  3. 

i.  The  Senate  of  the  Confederate  States  shall  be  composed  of 
two  Senators  from  each  State,  chosen  for  six  years  by  the  Legisla 
ture  thereof,  at  the  regular  session  next  immediately  preceding  the 
commencement  of  the  term  of  service;  and  each  Senator  shall 

have  one  vote.3 

******** 

SECTION  6. 

.  .  .  No  Senator  or  Representative  shall,  during  the  time  for 
which  he  was  elected,  be  appointed  to  any  civil  office  under  the 
authority  of  the  Confederate  States,  which  shall  have  been  created, 
or  the  emoluments  whereof  shall  have  been  increased  during  such 
time;  and  no  person  holding  any  office  under  the  Confederate 
States  shall  be  a  member  of  either  House  during  his  continuance 
in  office.  But  Congress  may,  by  law,  grant  to  the  principal  officer 
in  each  of  the  Executive  Departments  a  seat  upon  the  floor  of 
either  House,  with  the  privilege  of  discussing  any  measures  apper 
taining  to  his  department.4 

1  [Cf.  Const.  U.  S.,  Art.  I.,  Sec.  2,  Par.  3.] 

2  [Cf.  Const.  U.  S.,  Art.  I.,  Sec.  2,  Par.  5.] 

3  [Cf.  Const.  U.  S.,  Art.  I.,  Sec.  3,  Par.  i.] 

4  [Cf.  Const.  U.  S.,  Art.  I.,  Sec.  6,  Par.  2.] 


i86i]         CONSTITUTION   OF   CONFEDERATE   STATES          427 

SECTION  7. 

2.  ...     The  President  may  approve  any  appropriation  and 
disapprove  any  other  appropriation  in  the  same  bill.     In  such  case 
he  shall,  in  signing  the  bill,  designate  the  appropriations  disap 
proved;   and  shall  return  a  copy  of  such  appropriations,  with  his 
objections,  to  the  House  in  which  the  bill  shall  have  originated; 
and  the  same  proceedings  shall  then  be  had  as  in  case  of  other 
bills  disapproved  by  the  President.1 

SECTION  8. 

The  Congress  shall  have  power  — 

i.  To  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  and  excises,  for 
revenue  necessary  to  pay  the  debts,  provide  for  the  common  de 
fence,  and  carry  on  the  government  of  the  Confederate  States; 
but  no  bounties  shall  be  granted  from  the  treasury ;  nor  shall  any 
duties  or  taxes  on  importations  from  foreign  nations  be  laid  to  pro 
mote  or  foster  any  branch  of  industry;  and  all  duties,  imposts, 
and  excises  shall  be  uniform  throughout  the  Confederate  States : 2 
******** 

3.  To  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations,  and  among  the 
several  States,  and  with  the  Indian  tribes;    but  neither  this,  nor 
any  other  clause  contained  in  the  Constitution,  shall  ever  be  con 
strued  to  delegate  the  power  to  Congress  to  appropriate  money 
for  any  internal  improvement  intended  to  facilitate  commerce; 
except  for  the  purpose  of  furnishing  lights,  beacons,  and  buoys, 
and  other  aids  to  navigation  upon  the  coasts,  and  the  improve 
ment  of  harbors  and  the  removing  of  obstructions  in  river  naviga 
tion,  in  all  which  cases,  such  duties  shall  be  laid  on  the  navigation 
facilitated  thereby,  as  may  be  necessary  to  pay  the  costs  and  ex 
penses  thereof :  3 

4.  To  establish  uniform  laws  of  naturalization,  and  uniform  laws 
on  the  subject  of  bankruptcies,  throughout  the  Confederate  States ; 
but  no  law  of  Congress  shall  discharge  any  debt  contracted  before 

the  passage  of  the  same : 4 

******** 

1  [Cf.  Const.  U.  S.,  Art.  I.,  Sec.  7,  Par.  2.] 

2  [Cf.  Const.  U.  S.,  Art.  I.,  Sec.  8,  Par.  i.] 

3  [Cf.  Const.  U.  S.,  Art.  I.,  Sec.  8,  Par.  3.] 

4  [Cf.  Const.  U.  S.,  Art.  I.,  Sec.  8,  Par.  4-] 


428      CONSTITUTION   OF   CONFEDERATE  STATES    [March  n 

7.  To  establish  post-offices  and  post-routes;  but  the  expenses 
of  the  Post-Office  Department,  after  the  first  day  of  March  in  the 
year  of  our  Lord  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-three,  shall  be  paid 
out  of  its  own  revenue : l 

******** 

SECTION    9. 

1.  The  importation  of  negroes  of  the  African  race,  from  any 
foreign  country  other  than  the  slaveholding  States  or  Territories 
of  the  United  States  of  America,  is  hereby  forbidden ;    and  Con 
gress  is  required  to  pass  such  laws  as  shall  effectually  prevent  the 
same. 

2.  Congress  shall  also  have  power  to  prohibit  the  introduction 
of  slaves  from  any  State  not  a  member  of,  or  Territory  not  belong 
ing  to,  this  Confederacy.2 

******** 

4.  No  bill  of  attainder,  ex  post  facto  law,  or  law  denying  or  im- 

pa[i]ring  the  right  of  property  in  negro  slaves  shall  be  passed.3 

******** 

6.  No  tax  or  duty  shall  be  laid  on  articles  exported  from  any 
State,  except  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  both  Houses.4 

******** 

9.  Congress  shall  appropriate  no  money  from  the  treasury  ex 
cept  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  both  Houses,  taken  by  yeas  and 
nays,  unless  it  be  asked  and  estimated  for  by  some  one  of  the 
heads  of  departments,  and  submitted  to  Congress  by  the  Presi 
dent;   or  for  the  purpose  of  paying  its  own  expenses  and  contin 
gencies;    or  for  the  payment  of  claims  against  the  Confederate 
States,  the  justice  of  which  shall  have  been  judicially  declared  by 
a  tribunal  for  the  investigation  of  claims  against  the  government, 
which  it  is  hereby  made  the  duty  of  Congress  to  establish. 

10.  All  bills  appropriating  money  shall  specify  in  federal  cur 
rency  the  exact  amount  of  each  appropriation  and  the  purposes 
for  which  it  is  made;   and  Congress  shall  grant  no  extra  compen- 

1  (Cf.  Const.  U.  S.,  Art.  I.,  Sec.  8,  Par.  7.] 

2  [Cf.  Const.  U.  S.,  Art.  I.,  Sec.  9,  Par.  i.] 

3  [Cf.  Const.  U.  S.,  Art.  I.,  Sec.  9,  Par.  3.] 

4  [Cf.  Const.  U.  S.,  Art.  I.,  Sec.  9,  Par.  5.] 


i86i]         CONSTITUTION    OF   CONFEDERATE   STATES  429 

sation  to  any  public  contractor,  officer,  agent  or  servant,  after  such 
contract  shall  have  been  made  or  such  service  rendered.1 

******** 
20.   Every  law,  or  resolution  having  the  force  of  law,  shall  relate 
to  but  one  subject,  and  that  shall  be  expressed  in  the  title. 

SECTION    10. 

3.  No  State  shall,  without  the  consent  of  Congress,  lay  any  duty 
on  tonnage,  except  on  sea-going  vessels,  for  the  improvement  of 
its  rivers  and  harbors  navigated  by  the  said  vessels;  but  such 
duties  shall  not  conflict  with  any  treaties  of  the  Confederate 
States  with  foreign  nations;  and  any  surplus  revenue,  thus  de 
rived,  shall,  after  making  such  improvement,  be  paid  into  the 
common  treasury.  Nor  shall  any  State  keep  troops  or  ships-of- 
war  in  time  of  peace,  enter  into  any  agreement  or  compact  with 
another  State,  or  with  a  foreign  power,  or  engage  in  war,  unless 
actually  invaded,  or  in  such  imminent  danger  as  will  not  admit  of 
delay.  But  when  any  river  divides  or  flows  through  two  or  more 
States,  they  may  enter  into  compacts  with  each  other  to  improve 
the  navigation  thereof.2 

ARTICLE  II. 

SECTION    I. 

i.  The  executive  power  shall  be  vested  in  a  President  of  the 
Confederate  States  of  America.  He  and  the  Vice  President  shall 
hold  their  offices  for  the  term  of  six  years;  but  the  President  shall 
not  be  re-eligible.  .  .  .3 

******** 

7.  No  person  except  a  natural  born  citizen  of  the  Confederate 
States,  or  a  citizen  thereof  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  this 
Constitution,  or  a  citizen  thereof  born  in  the  United  States  prior 
to  the  2oth  of  December,  1860,  shall  be  eligible  to  the  office  of 
President;  neither  shall  any  person  be  eligible  to  that  office  who 

1  [This  and  the  preceding  paragraphs  are  in  addition  to  a  provision  identical 
with  Const.  U.  S.,  Art.  I.,  Sec.  9,  Par.  7.] 

[Cf.  Const.  U.  S.,  Art.  I.,  Sec.  10,  Par.  3.] 
3  [Cf.  Const.  U.  S.,  Art.  II.,  Sec.  i,  Par.  i.] 


430      CONSTITUTION   OF   CONFEDERATE   STATES     [March  n 

shall  not  have  attained  the  age  of  thirty-five  years,  and  been  four 
teen  years  a  resident  within  the  limits  of  the  Confederate  States, 
as  they  may  exist  at  the  time  of  his  election.1 

******** 

SECTION   2. 

3.  The  principal  officer  in  each  of  the  executive  departments, 
and  all  persons  connected  with  the  diplomatic  service,  may  be 
removed  from  office  at  the  pleasure  of  the  President.     All  other 
civil  officers  of  the  executive  departments  may  be  removed  at  any 
time  by  the  President,  or  other  appointing  power,  when  their  ser 
vices  are  unnecessary,  or  for  dishonesty,  incapacity,  inefficiency, 
misconduct,  or  neglect  of  duty ;  and  when  so  removed,  the  removal 
shall  be  reported  to  the  Senate,  together  with  the  reasons  therefor. 

4.  The  President  shall  have  power  to  fill  up  all  vacancies  that 
may  happen  during  the  recess  of  the  Senate,  by  granting  commis 
sions  which  shall  expire  at  the  end  of  their  next  session;   but  no 
person  rejected  by  the  Senate  shall  be  re  appointed  to  the  same 
office  during  their  ensuing  recess.2 


ARTICLE  IV. 

SECTION  2. 

1.  The  citizens  of  each  State  shall  be  entitled  to  all  the  privi 
leges  and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several  States;   and  shall 
have  the  right  of  transit  and  sojourn  in  any  State  of  this  Con 
federacy,  with  their  slaves  and  other  property;   and  the  right  of 
property  in  said  slaves  shall  not  be  thereby  impaired.3 

2.  A  person  charged  in  any  State  with  treason,  felony,  or  other 
crime  against  the  laws  of  such  State,  who  shall  flee  from  justice, 
and  be  found  in  another  State,  shall,  on  demand  of  the  executive 
authority  of  the  State  from  which  he  fled,  be  delivered  up,  to  be 
removed  to  the  State  having  jurisdiction  of  the  crime.4 

1  [Cf.  Const.  U.  S.,  Art.  II.,  Sec.  i,  Par.  5.] 

2  [Cf.  Const.  U.  S.,  Art.  II.,  Sec.  2,  Par.  3.] 

3  [Cf.  Const.  U.  S.,  Art.  IV.,  Sec.  2,  Par.  i.] 
*  [C/.  Const.  U.  S.,  Art.  IV.,  Sec.  2,  Par.  2.] 


1861]         CONSTITUTION   OF   CONFEDERATE   STATES          431 

3.  No  slave  or  other  person  held  to  service  or  labor  in  any 
State  or  Territory  of  the  Confederate  States,  under  the  laws 
thereof,  escaping  or  lawfully  carried  into  another,  shall,  in  con 
sequence  of  any  law  or  regulation  therein,  be  discharged  from 
such  service  or  labor;  but  shall  be  delivered  up  on  claim  of  the 
party  to  whom  such  slave  belongs,  or  to  whom  such  service  or 
labor  may  be  due.1 

SECTION  3. 

1.  Other  States  may  be  admitted  into  this  Confederacy  by  a 
vote  of  two-thirds  of  the  whole  House  of  Representatives  and 
two-thirds  of  the  Senate,  the  Senate  voting  by  States;    but  no 
new  State  shall  be  formed  or  erected  .within  the  jurisdiction  of 
any  other  State ;   nor  any  State  be  formed  by  the  junction  of  two 
or  more  States,  or  parts  of  States,  without  the  consent  of  the  legis 
latures  of  the  States  concerned,  as  well  as  of  the  Congress.2 

2.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  dispose  of  and  make  all 
needful  rules  and  regulations  concerning  the  property  of  the  Con 
federate  States,  including  the  lands  thereof.3 

3.  The  Confederate  States  may  acquire  new  territory;  and  Con 
gress  shall  have  power  to  legislate  and  provide  governments  for 
the  inhabitants  of  all  territory  belonging  to  the  Confederate  States, 
lying  without  the  limits  of  the  several  States ;  and  may  permit  them, 
at  such  times,  and  in  such  manner  as  it  may  by  law  provide,  to 
form  States  to  be  admitted  into  the  Confederacy.     In  all  such 
territory,  the  institution  of  negro  slavery,  as  it  now  exists  in  the 
Confederate  States,  shall  be  recognized  and  protected  by  Con 
gress  and  by  the  territorial  government:    and  the  inhabitants  of 
the  several  Confederate  States  and  Territories  shall  have  the  right 
to  take  to  such  territory  any  slaves  lawfully  held  by  them  in  any 
of  the  States  or  Territories  of  the  Confederate  States. 

ARTICLE  V. 

SECTION    I. 

i.  Upon  the  demand  of  any  three  States,  legally  assembled  in 
their  several  conventions,  the  Congress  shall  summon  a  convention 

1  [Cf.  Const.  U.  S.,  Art.  IV.,  Sec.  2,  Par.  3.] 

2  [Cf.  Const.  U.  S.,  Art.  IV.,  Sec.  3,  Par.  i.] 

3  [Cf.  Const.  U.  S.,  Art.  IV.,  Sec.  3,  Par.  2.] 


432       CONSTITUTION    OF   CONFEDERATE   STATES     [March  11 

of  all  the  States,  to  take  into  consideration  such  amendments  to 
the  Constitution  as  the  said  States  shall  concur  in  suggesting  at 
the  time  when  the  said  demand  is  made;  and  should  any  of  the 
proposed  amendments  to  the  Constitution  be  agreed  on  by  the 
said  convention  —  voting  by  States  —  and  the  same  be  ratified  by 
the  legislatures  of  two-thirds  of  the  several  States,  or  by  conven 
tions  in  two-thirds  thereof  —  as  the  one  or  the  other  mode  of 
ratification  may  be  proposed  by  the  general  convention  —  they 
shall  thenceforward  form  a  part  of  this  Constitution.  But  no  State 
shall,  without  its  consent,  be  deprived  of  its  equal  representation 
in  the  Senate.1 

ARTICLE  VI. 

i.  The  Government  established  by  this  Constitution  is  the 
successor  of  the  Provisional  Government  of  the  Confederate 
States  of  America,  and  all  the  laws  passed  by  the  latter  shall  con 
tinue  in  force  until  the  same  shall  be  repealed  or  modified:  and 
all  the  officers  appointed  by  the  same  shall  remain  in  office  until 
their  successors  are  appointed  and  qualified,  or  the  offices  abol 
ished. 

******** 

5.  The  enumeration,  in  the  Constitution,  of  certain  rights,  shall 
not  be  construed  to  deny  or  disparage  others  retained  by  the 
people  of  the  Several  States.2 

6.  The  powrers  not  delegated  to  the  Confederate  States  by  the 
Constitution,  nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved  to 
the  States,  respectively,  or  to  the  people  thereof.3 

ARTICLE  VII. 

1.  The  ratification  of  the  conventions  of  five  States  shall  be 
sufficient  for  the  establishment  of  this  Constitution  between  the 
States  so  ratifying  the  same.4 

2.  When  five  States  shall  have  ratified  this  Constitution,  in  the 
manner  before  specified,  the  Congress  under  the  Provisional  Con 
stitution  shall  prescribe  the  time  for  holding  the  election  of  Presi- 

1  [Cf.  Const.  U.  S.,  Art.  V.] 

2  [Cf.  Const.  U.  S.,  Amend.,  Art.  IX.] 

3  [Cf.  Const.  U.  S.,  Amend.,  Art.  X.] 

4  [Cf.  Const.  U.  S.,  Art.  VII J 


!86i]  CALL   FOR   VOLUNTEERS  433 

dent  and  Vice  President;  and  for  the  meeting  of  the  Electoral 
College;  and  for  counting  the  votes,  and  inaugurating  the  Presi 
dent.  They  shall,  also,  prescribe  the  time  for  holding  the  first 
election  of  members  of  Congress  under  this  Constitution,  and 
the  time  for  assembling  the  same.  Until  the  assembling  of  such 
Congress,  the  Congress  under  the  Provisional  Constitution  shall 
continue  to  exercise  the  legislative  powers  granted  them;  not 
extending  beyond  the  time  limited  by  the  Constitution  of  the 
Provisional  Government. 


No.  1 1 7.     Call  for  75,000  Volunteers 

April  15,   1861 

THE  proclamation  of  April  15  was  issued,  under  authority  of  the  act  of 
February  28,  1795,  the  day  after  the  fall  of  Fort  Sumter.  The  call  on  the 
governors  of  the  States  was  made  through  the  War  Department.  May  3  a 
further  call  for  42,034  volunteers  to  serve  for  three  years,  together  with  an 
order  for  the  increase  of  the  regular  army  and  the  enlistment  of  seamen,  was 
issued,  the  action  of  the  President  being  legalized  by  an  act  of  August  6.  An 
act  of  February  24,  1864,  authorized  the  President  to  call  whenever  necessary 
for  such  number  of  volunteers  as  might  be  required. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XII,  1258.  Correspond 
ence  with  the  governors  is  in  the  War  Records,  Series  III.,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  68  seq. 
For  comments  of  the  press  see  Moore,  Rebellion  Record,  I.,  64-69  of  docu 
ments. 

WHEREAS  the  laws  of  the  United  States  have  been,  for  some  time 
past,  and  now  are  opposed,  and  the  execution  thereof  obstructed, 
in  the  States  of  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama,  Florida,  Missis 
sippi,  Louisiana,  and  Texas,  by  combinations  too  powerful  to  be 
suppressed  by  the  ordinary  course  of  judicial  proceedings,  or  by 
the  powers  vested  in  the  marshals  by  law : 

Now,  therefore,  I,  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  President  of  the 
United  States,  in  virtue  of  the  power  in  me  vested  by  the  Consti 
tution  and  the  laws,  have  thought  fit  to  call  forth,  and  hereby  do 
call  forth,  the  militia  of  the  several  States  of  the  Union,  to  the 
aggregate  number  of  seventy-five  thousand,  in  order  to  suppress 
said  combinations,  and  to  cause  the  laws  to  be  duly  executed. 

The  details  for  this  object  will  be  immediately  communicated  to 
the  State  authorities  through  the  War  Department. 


134  BLOCKADE  OF  SOUTHERN  PORTS  [April  19 

I  appeal  to  all  loyal  citizens  to  favor,  facilitate,  and  aid  this  effort 
to  maintain  the  honor,  the  integrity,  and  the  existence  of  our 
National  Union,  and  the  perpetuity  of  popular  government;  and 
to  redress  wrongs  already  long  enough  endured. 

I  deem  it  proper  to  say  that  the  first  service  assigned  to  the 
forces  hereby  called  forth  will  probably  be  to  repossess  the  forts, 
places,  and  property  which  have  been  seized  from  the  Union ;  and 
in  every  event,  the  utmost  care  will  be  observed,  consistently  with 
the  objects  aforesaid,  to  avoid  any  devastation,  any  destruction 
of,  or  interference  with,  property,  or  any  disturbance  of  peaceful 
citizens  in  any  part  of  the  country. 

And  I  hereby  command  the  persons  composing  the  combina 
tions  aforesaid  to  disperse,  and  retire  peaceably  to  their  respective 
abodes  within  twenty  days  from  this  date. 

Deeming  that  the  present  condition  of  public  affairs  presents  an 
extraordinary  occasion,  I  do  hereby,  in  virtue  of  the  power  in  me 
vested  by  the  Constitution,  convene  both  Houses  of  Congress. 
Senators  and  Representatives  are  therefore  summoned  to  assemble 
at  their  respective  chambers,  at  twelve  o'clock,  noon,  on  Thursday, 
the  fourth  day  of  July  next,  then  and  there  to  consider  and  deter 
mine  such  measures  as,  in  their  wisdom,  the  public  safety  and 

interest  may  seem  to  demand. 

******** 


No.  1 1 8.     Proclamation   declaring   a   Block 
ade  of   Southern  Ports 

April  19,   1861 

IN  response  to  the  proclamation  of  April  15,  calling  for  75,000  volunteers, 
Jefferson  Davis,  as  president  of  the  Confederate  States,  issued  on  April  17  a 
proclamation  inviting  applications  for  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal.  The 
proclamation  declaring  a  blockade  of  Southern  ports  was  issued  in  rejoinder. 
By  a  further  proclamation  of  April  27,  the  blockade  was  extended  to  the  ports 
of  Virignia  and  North  Carolina. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XII.,  1 258, 1259.  Davis's 
proclamation  is  in  Moore,  Rebellion  Record,  I.,  71  of  documents.  The  proc 
lamation  was  upheld  in  the  Prize  Cases,  2  Black,  635. 

WHEREAS  an  insurrection  against  the  Government  of  the  United 


1861]  BLOCKADE   OF    SOUTHERN    PORTS  435 

States  has  broken  out  in  the  States  of  South  Carolina,  Georgia, 
Alabama,  Florida,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and  Texas,  and  the  laws 
of  the  United  States  for  the  collection  of  the  revenue  cannot  be 
effectually  executed  therein  conformably  to  that  provision  of  the 
Constitution  which  requires  duties  to  be  uniform  throughout  the 
United  States: 

And  whereas  a  combination  of  persons,  engaged  in  such  insur 
rection,  have  threatened  to  grant  pretended  letters  of  marque  to 
authorize  the  bearers  thereof  to  commit  assaults  on  the  lives,  ves 
sels,  and  property  of  good  citizens  of  the  country  lawfully  engaged 
in  commerce  on  the  high  seas,  and  in  waters  of  the  United  States : 

And  whereas  an  Executive  Proclamation  has  been  already  issued, 
requiring  the  persons  engaged  in  these  disorderly  proceedings  to 
desist  therefrom,  calling  out  a  militia  force  for  the  purpose  of 
repressing  the  same,  and  convening  Congress  in  extraordinary 
session  to  deliberate  and  determine  thereon : 

Now,  therefore,  I,  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  President  of  the 
United  States,  with  a  view  to  the  same  purposes  before  mentioned, 
and  to  the  protection  of  the  public  peace,  and  the  lives  and  prop 
erty  of  quiet  and  orderly  citizens  pursuing  their  lawful  occupations, 
until  Congress  shall  have  assembled  and  deliberated  on  the  said 
unlawful  proceedings,  or  until  the  same  shall  have  ceased,  have 
further  deemed  it  advisable  to  set  on  foot  a  blockade  of  the  ports 
within  the  States  aforesaid,  in  pursuance  of  the  laws  of  the  United 
States  and  of  the  law  of  nations  in  such  case  provided.  For  this 
purpose  a  competent  force  will  be  posted  so  as  to  prevent  entrance 
and  exit  of  vessels  from  the  ports  aforesaid.  If,  therefore,  with  a 
view  to  violate  such  blockade,  a  vessel  shall  approach,  or  shall 
attempt  to  leave  either  of  the  said  ports,  she  will  be  duly  warned 
by  the  commander  of  one  of  the  blockading  vessels,  who  will  in 
dorse  on  her  register  the  fact  and  date  of  such  warning,  and  if  the 
same  vessel  shall  again  attempt  to  enter  or  leave  the  blockaded 
port,  she  will  be  captured  and  sent  to  the  nearest  convenient  port, 
for  such  proceedings  against  her  and  her  cargo  as  prize,  as  may  be 
deemed  advisable. 

And  I  hereby  proclaim  and  declare  that  if  any  person,  under  the 
pretended  authority  of  the  said  States,  or  under  any  other  pretence, 
shall  molest  a  vessel  of  the  United  States,  or  the  persons  or  cargo 
on  board  of  her,  such  person  will  be  held  amenable  to  the  laws  of 
the  United  States  for  the  prevention  and  punishment  of  piracy. 


436  ACT   FOR  A  NATIONAL  LOAN  [July  17 


No.  119.     Act  for  a  National  Loan 

July  17,  1 86 1 

IN  his  message  of  July  4,  1861,  Lincoln  asked  Congress  for  "at  least" 
400,000  men  and  $400,000,000  as  "the  legal  means  for  making  this  contest  a 
short  and  a  decisive  one."  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Chase,  in  his  re 
port  of  the  same  date,  recommended  loans  to  the  aggregate  amount  of 
$250,000,000,  and  submitted  the  draft  of  a  bill  for  that  purpose.  A  bill  to 
authorize  a  national  loan  was  introduced  in  the  House  by  Thaddeus  Stevens 
of  Pennsylvania,  from  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means,  July  9,  and  on  the 
following  day  passed  by  a  vote  of  153  to  5.  The  Senate  made  a  number  of 
amendments,  all  of  which  were  concurred  in  by  the  House,  and  on  the  iyth 
the  act  was  approved.  The  act  was  amended  by  act  of  August  5. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XII.,  259-261.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals  and  the  Cong.  Globe,  37th 
Cong.,  ist  Sess.  Chase's  report  of  July  4  is  in  the  Globe,  Appendix.  On  the 
condition  of  the  treasury  see  House  Misc.  Doc.  20,  36th  Cong.,  2d  Sess. 
The  supplementary  act  of  August  5  is  in  MacDonald,  Select  Statutes,  No.  10. 

An  Act  to  authorize  a  National  Loan  and  for  other  Purposes. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  be, 
and  he  is  hereby,  authorized  to  borrow  on  the  credit  of  the 
United  States,  within  twelve  months  from  the  passage  of  this 
act,  a  sum  not  exceeding  two  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  dol 
lars,  or  so  much  thereof  as  he  may  deem  necessary  for  the  public 
service,  for  which  he  is  authorized  to  issue  coupon  bonds,  or 
registered  bonds,  or  treasury  notes,  in  such  proportions  cf  each 
as  he  may  deem  advisable;  the  bonds  to  bear  interest  not  ex 
ceeding  seven  per  centum  per  annum,  payable  semi-annually, 
irredeemable  for  twenty  years,  and  after  that  period  redeemable 
at  the  pleasure  of  the  United  States;  and  the  treasury  notes  to 
be  of  any  denomination  fixed  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
not  less  than  fifty  dollars,  and  to  be  payable  three  years  after 
date,  with  interest  at  the  rate  of  seven  and  three  tenths  per 
centum  per  annum,  payable  semi-annually.  And  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  may  also  issue  in  exchange  for  coin,  and  as  part 
of  the  above  loan,  or  may  pay  for  salaries  or  other  dues  from 
the  United  States,  treasury  notes  of  a  less  denomination  than 
fifty  dollars,  not  bearing  interest,  but  payable  on  demand  by  the 


i86i]  ACT   FOR  A  NATIONAL  LOAN  437 

Assistant  Treasurers  of  the  United  States  at  Philadelphia,  New 
York,  or  Boston,  or  treasury  notes  bearing  interest  at  the  rate 
of  three  and  sixty-five  hundredths  per  centum,  payable  in  one 
year  from  date,  and  exchangeable  at  any  time  for  treasury  notes 
for  fifty  dollars,  and  upwards,  issuable  under  the  authority  of 
this  act,  and  bearing  interest  as  specified  above :  Provided,  That 
no  exchange  of  such  notes  in  any  less  amount  than  one  hundred 
dollars  shall  be  made  at  any  one  time:  And  provided  further, 
That  no  treasury  notes  shall  be  issued  of  a  less  denomination 
than  ten  dollars,  and  that  the  whole  amount  of  treasury  notes,  not 
bearing  interest,  issued  under  the  authority  of  this  act,  shall  not 

exceed  fifty  millions  of  dollars. 

******** 

SEC.  6.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  whenever  any  treasury 
notes  of  a  denomination  less  than  fifty  dollars,  authorized  to  be 
issued  by  this  act,  shall  have  been  redeemed,  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  may  re-issue  the  same,  or  may  cancel  them  and 
issue  new  notes  to  an  equal  amount:  Provided,  That  the  aggre 
gate  amount  of  bonds  and  treasury  notes  issued  under  the  fore 
going  provisions  of  this  act  shall  never  exceed  the  full  amount 
.authorized  by  the  first  section  of  this  act;  and  the  power  to 
issue,  or  re -issue  such  notes  shall  cease  and  determine  after  the 
thirty-first  of  December,  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-two. 

SEC.  7.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  is  hereby  authorized,  whenever  he  shall  deem  it  ex 
pedient,  to  issue  in  exchange  for  coin,  or  in  payment  for  public 
dues,  treasury  notes  of  any  of  the  denominations  hereinbefore 
specified,  bearing  interest  not  exceeding  six  per  centum  per 
annum,  and  payable  at  any  time  not  exceeding  twelve  months 
from  date,  provided  that  the  amount  of  notes  so  issued,  or  paid, 

shall  at  no  time  exceed  twenty  millions  of  dollars. 

******** 

SEC.  9.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  faith  of  the  United 
States  is  hereby  solemnly  pledged  for  the  payment  of  the  inter 
est  and  redemption  of  the  principal  of  the  loan  authorized  by 

this  act. 

******** 


438  EMPLOYMENT   OF   VOLUNTEERS  [July  22 

No.  1 20.    Act  authorizing  the  Employment 
of  Volunteers 

July  22,  1861 

A  BILL  to  authorize  the  employment  of  volunteers,  in  accordance  with  the 
recommendation  of  President  Lincoln  in  his  message  of  July  4,  1861,  was  in 
troduced  in  the  Senate,  July  6,  by  Henry  Wilson  of  Massachusetts,  and  passed 
that  house  on  the  loth  by  a  vote  of  34  to  4.  On  the  i2th  the  action  was  re 
considered,  and  the  bill  with  further  amendments  was  again  passed  by  a  vote 
of  35  to  4.  The  passage  of  a  substitute  bill  by  the  House  caused  a  reference 
of  the  matter  to  a  conference  committee,  whose  report  was  agreed  to  by  the 
two  houses  on  the  iSth.  The  discussion  in  each  house  had  to  do  mainly  with 
the  details  of  organization  of  the  volunteers  provided  for  by  the  bill. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XII.,  268-271.  For  the 
debates  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals  and  Cong.  Globe,  37th  Cong.,  ist 
Sess.  On  the  efficiency  of  volunteers  and  the  condition  of  the  militia  see 
House  Exec.  Doc.  54  and  House  Report  58,  36th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  and  House 
Report  i,  37th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.  A  summary  view  of  early  military  legislation, 
Union  and  Confederate,  is  given  in  McPherson,  History  of  the  Rebellion, 
115-121. 

An  Act  to  authorize  the  Employment  of  Volunteers  to  aid  in  enforc 
ing  the  Laws  and  protecting  Public  Property. 

WHEREAS,   certain  of  the  forts,   arsenals,   custom-houses,  navy 
yards,   and  other  property  of  the   United   States  have  been 
seized,  and  other  violations  of  law  have  been  committed  and 
are  threatened  by  organized  bodies  of  men  in  several  of  the 
States,  and  a  conspiracy  has  been  entered  into  to  overthrow 
the  Government  of  the  United  States :   Therefore, 
Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  the  President  be,  and  he  is  hereby, 
authorized  to  accept  the  services  of  volunteers,  either  as  cavalry, 
infantry,  or  artillery,  in  such  numbers,  not  exceeding  five  hun 
dred  thousand,  as  he  may  deem  necessary,  for  the  purpose  of 
repelling  invasion,  suppressing  insurrection,  enforcing  the  laws, 
and  preserving  and  protecting  the  public  property:    Provided, 
That  the  services  of  the  volunteers  shall  be  for  such  time  as  the 
President  may  direct,  not  exceeding  three  years  nor  less  than 
six  months,1  and  they  shall  be  disbanded  at  the  end  of  the  war.  .  .  . 

1  A  supplementary  act  of  July  25,  1861,  provided  that  volunteers  should  "be 
mustered  in  for  'during  the  war.'"  —  ED. 


i86i]  RESOLUTION    ON   THE   WAR  439 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  said  volunteers 
shall  be  subject  to  the  rules  and  regulations  governing  the  army 
of  the  United  States,  and  that  they  shall  be  formed,  by  the  Presi 
dent,  into  regiments  of  infantry,  with  the  exception  of  such 
numbers  for  cavalry  and  artillery,  as  he  may  direct,  not  to 
exceed  the  proportion  of  one  company  of  each  of  those  arms  to 
every  regiment  of  infantry,  and  to  be  organized  as  in  the  regu 
lar  service.  .  .  . 

[The  remainder  of  the  act  relates  to  the  organization  of  the 
volunteers,  the  appointment  of  officers,  etc.] 


No.  121.     Resolution    on    the    Nature    and 
Object  of  the  War 

July  22,  1861 

A  RESOLUTION  declaratory  of  the  nature  and  object  of  the  war  was  offered 
in  the  House,  July  22,  1861,  by  John  J.  Crittenden  of  Kentucky.  In  the  vote 
the  resolution  was  divided,  the  first  part,  through  the  word  "capital,"  being 
adopted  by  a  vote  of  122  to  2,  and  the  remainder  by  a  vote  of  117  to  2.  A 
resolution  in  practically  identical  terms  was  offered  in  the  Senate,  July  24,  by 
Andrew  Johnson  of  Tennessee,  and  on  the  25th,  after  a  long  discussion,  was 
adopted,  the  vote  being  30  to  5.  The  resolutions,  which  "gave  expression 
to  the  common  sentiment  of  the  country,"  were  the  only  formal  declarations 
out  of  a  great  number  submitted  which  passed  the  houses. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  House  Journal,  3;th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  123.  For 
the  debates  see  the  Cong.  Globe.  A  list  of  the  principal  declaratory  resolu 
tions  submitted,  with  the  action  on  each,  is  given  in  McPherson,  Rebellion, 
285-290. 

Resolved  .  .  .  ,  That  the  present  deplorable  civil  war  has  been 
forced  upon  the  country  by  the  disunionists  of  the  southern 
States,  now  in  arms  against  the  constitutional  government,  and 
in  arms  around  the  capital  ;  that  in  this  national  emergency, 
Congress,  banishing  all  feelings  of  mere  passion  or  resentment, 
will  recollect  only  its  duty  to  the  whole  country  ;  that  this  war 
is  not  waged  on  their  part  in  any  spirit  of  oppression,  or  for  any 
purpose  of  conquest  or  subjugation,  or  purpose  of  overthrowing 
or  interfering  with  the  rights  or  established  institutions  of  those 
States,  but  to  defend  and  maintain  the  supremacy  of  the  Consti- 


440  ACT   FOR   CALLING   OUT  THE   MILITIA         [July  2$ 

tution,  and  to  preserve  the  Union  with  all  the  dignity,  equality, 
and  rights  of  the  several  States  unimpaired;  and  that  as  soon 
as  these  objects  are  accomplished  the  war  ought  to  cease. 


No.  122.     Act  for  Calling  out  the  Militia 

July  29,  1861 

A  BILL  "to  provide  for  the  suppression  of  rebellion,"  etc.,  was  introduced 
in  the  House,  July  10,  by  John  A.  Bingham  of  Ohio,  and  on  the  i6th  passed 
without  a  division.  The  bill  passed  the  Senate  on  the  26th,  and  on  the  2Qth 
the  act  was  approved. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XII.,  281,  282.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals  and  the  Cong.  Globe.  The 
changes  made  by  the  act  are  set  forth  in  the  House  proceedings  of  July  16; 
compare  President  Buchanan's  remarks  on  the  employment  of  the  militia 
under  the  acts  of  1795  and  1807,  in  his  annual  message  of  December  3,  1860. 

An  Act  to  provide  for  the  Suppression  of  Rebellion  against  and 
Resistance  to  the  Laws  of  the  United  States,  and  to  amend  the 
Act  entitled  "  An  Act  to  provide  for  calling  forth  the  Militia  to 
execute  the  Laws  of  the  Union,"  &°c.,  passed  .  .  .  [February  28, 
1795]. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  whenever,  by  reason  of  unlawful 
obstructions,  combinations,  or  assemblages  of  persons,  or  rebel 
lion  against  the  authority  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  it  shall  become  impracticable,  in  the  judgment  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  to  enforce,  by  the  ordinary 
course  of  judicial  proceedings,  the  laws  of  the  United  States 
within  any  State  or  Territory  of  the  United  States,  it  shall  be 
lawful  for  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  call  forth  the 
militia  of  any  or  all  the  States  of  the  Union,  and  to  employ  such 
parts  of  the  land  and  naval  forces  of  the  United  States  as  he  may 
deem  necessary  to  enforce  the  faithful  execution  of  the  laws  of 
the  United  States,  or  to  suppress  such  rebellion  in  whatever 
State  or  Territory  thereof  the  laws  of  the  United  States  may  be 
forcibly  opposed,  or  the  execution  thereof  forcibly  obstructed. 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  whenever,  in  the 
judgment  of  the  President,  it  may  be  necessary  to  use  the  mill' 


1861]  PUNISHMENT    OF   CONSPIRACIES  441 

tary  force  hereby  directed  to  be  employed  and  called  forth  by 
him,  the  President  shall  forthwith,  by  proclamation,  command 
such  insurgents  to  disperse  and  retire  peaceably  to  their  respec 
tive  abodes,  within  a  limited  time. 

SEC.  3.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  militia  so  called 
into  the  service  of  the  United  States  shall  be  subject  to  the  same 
rules  and  articles  of  war  as  the  troops  of  the  United  States,  and 
be  continued  in  the  service  of  the  United  States  until  discharged 
by  proclamation  of  the  President:  Provided,  That  such  continu 
ance  in  service  shall  not  extend  beyond  sixty  days  after  the 
commencement  of  the  next  regular  session  of  Congress,  unless 

Congress  shall  expressly  provide  by  law  therefor :  .  .  . 

******** 

SEC.  7.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  marshals  of  the 
several  districts  of  the  United  States,  and  their  deputies,  shall 
have  the  same  powers  in  executing  the  laws  of  the  United  States 
as  sheriffs  and  their  deputies  in  the  several  States,  have  by  law, 
in  executing  the  laws  of  the  respective  States. 

******** 


No.  123.     Act  to  Define  and  Punish  certain 
Conspiracies 

July  31,  1861 

A  BILL  "to  define  and  punish  certain  conspiracies"  was  presented  in  the 
House,  July  15,  by  John  Hickman  of  Pennsylvania,  and  passed  by  a  vote  of 
1 23  to  7.  In  the  Senate  the  printing  of  a  minority  report  submitted  by  Bayard 
of  Delaware  and  Powell  of  Kentucky  was  refused  by  a  vote  of  10  to  29, 
and  on  the  26th  the  bill  in  amended  form  passed  the  Senate.  Nine  Senators 
entered  a  protest  against  the  bill.  The  amendment  of  the  Senate  was  con 
curred  in  by  the  House  on  the  3oth,  and  the  next  day  the  act  was  approved. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XII.,  284.  The  important 
proceedings  are  those  of  the  Senate  for  July  24  and  26  (Cong.  Globe,  37th 
Cong.,  ist  Sess.). 

An  Act  to  define  and  punish  certain  Conspiracies. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  if  two  or  more  persons  within  any 
State  or  Territory  of  the  United  States  shall  conspire  together 


442  CONFISCATION   ACT  [August  6 

to  overthrow,  or  to  put  down,  or  to  destroy  by  force,  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States,  or  to  levy  war  against  the  United 
States,  or  to  oppose  by  force  the  authority  of  the  Government 
of  the  United  States;  or  by  force  to  prevent,  hinder,  or  delay 
the  execution  of  any  law  of  the  United  States;  or  by  force  to 
seize,  take,  or  possess  any  property  of  the  United  States  against 
the  will  or  contrary  to  the  authority  of  the  United  States;  or  by 
force,  or  intimidation,  or  threat  to  prevent  any  person  from 
accepting  or  holding  any  office,  or  trust,  or  place  of  confidence, 
under  the  United  States;  each  and  every  person  so  offending 
shall  be  guilty  of  a  high  crime,  and  upon  conviction  thereof  in 
any  district  or  circuit  court  of  the  United  States,  having  juris 
diction  thereof,  or  district  or  supreme  court  of  any  Territory  of 
the  United  States  having  jurisdiction  thereof,  shall  be  punished 
by  a  fine  not  less  than  five  hundred  dollars  and  not  more  than 
five  thousand  dollars;  or  by  imprisonment,  with  or  without  hard 
labor,  as  the  court  shall  determine,  for  a  period  not  less  than 
six  months  nor  greater  than  six  years,  or  by  both  such  fine  and 
imprisonment. 


No.    124.     Confiscation  Act 

August  6,  1861 

A  BILL  "to  confiscate  property  used  for  insurrectionary  purposes"  was 
introduced  in  the  Senate,  July  15,  by  Lyman  Trumbull  of  Illinois.  When  the 
bill  was  reported  by  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  on  the  25th,  Trumbull 
proposed  an  additional  section,  embodying  in  a  shorter  form  the  provisions  of 
section  four  of  the  act.  The  amended  bill  passed  the  Senate  July  22.  The 
proposed  forfeiture  of  the  claims  of  owners  to  such  of  their  slaves  as  had  been 
compelled  to  work  in  aid  of  the  rebellion  aroused  strong  opposition  in  the 
House,  but  an  amendment  in  the  form  of  a  substitute  for  the  final  section  of 
the  Senate  bill,  being  section  four  of  the  act  as  passed,  was  agreed  to,  August  3, 
by  a  vote  of  60  to  48.  By  a  vote  of  24  to  n  the  Senate  concurred  in  the 
amendment  of  the  House,  and  on  the  6th  the  act  was  approved.  The  Confis 
cation  Act  was  the  first  legislative  step  towards  emancipation. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XII.,  319.  For  the  pro 
ceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  3yth  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Globe.  For  the  retaliatory  act  of  the  Confederate  Congress,  August  30, 
see  Confederate  Statutes  at  Large,  201.  On  Butler's  course  see  Butler's  Book 
256  seq.,  and  War  Records,  Series  I.,  Vol.  I.,  53. 


1861]  CONFISCATION   ACT  443 

An  Act  to  confiscate  Property  used  for  Insurrectionary  Purposes. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  if,  during  the  present  or  any  future 
insurrection  against  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  after 
the  President  of  the  United  States  shall  have  declared,  by  proc 
lamation,  that  the  laws  of  the  United  States  are  opposed,  and  the 
execution  thereof  obstructed,  by  combinations  too  powerful  to  be 
suppressed  by  the  ordinary  course  of  judicial  pioceedings,  or  by 
the  power  vested  in  the  marshals  by  law,  any  person  or  persons, 
his,  her,  or  their  agent,  attorney,  or  employe,  shall  purchase  or 
acquire,  sell  or  give,  any  property  of  whatsoever  kind  or  descrip 
tion,  with  intent  to  use  or  employ  the  same,  or  suffer  the  same 
to  be  used  or  employed,  in  aiding,  abetting,  or  promoting  such 
insurrection  or  resistance  to  the  laws,  or  any  person  or  persons 
engaged  therein;  or  if  any  person  or  persons,  being  the  owner 
or  owners  of  any  such  property,  shall  knowingly  use  or  employ, 
or  consent  to  the  use  or  employment  of  the  same  as  aforesaid,  all 
such  property  is  hereby  declared  to  be  lawful  subject  of  prize 
and  capture  wherever  found;  and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States  to  cause  the  same  to  be  seized, 
confiscated,  and  condemned. 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  such  prizes  and  cap 
ture  shall  be  condemned  in  the  district  or  circuit  court  of  the 
United  States  having  jurisdiction  of  the  amount,  or  in  admiralty 
in  any  district  in  which  the  same  may  be  seized,  or  into  which 
they  may  be  taken  and  proceedings  first  instituted. 

SEC.  3.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  Attorney- General, 
or  any  district  attorney  of  the  United  States  in  which  said 
property  may  at  the  time  be,  may  institute  the  proceedings  of 
condemnation,  and  in  such  case  they  shall  be  wholly  for  the 
benefit  of  the  United  States  ;  or  any  person  may  file  an  infor 
mation  with  such  attorney,  in  which  case  the  proceedings  shall 
be  for  the  use  of  such  informer  and  the  United  States  in  equal 
parts. 

SEC.  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  whenever  hereafter, 
during  the  present  insurrection  against  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  any  person  claimed  to  be  held  to  labor  or  service 
under  the  law  of  any  State,  shall  be  required  or  permitted  by  the 
person  to  whom  such  labor  or  service  is  claimed  to  be  due,  or  by 


444   SEIZURE  OF  RAILROAD  AND  TELEGRAPH  LINES  [Jan.  31 

the  lawful  agent  of  such  person,  to  take  up  arms  against  the 
United  States,  or  shall  be  required  or  permitted  by  the  person 
to  whom  such  labor  or  service  is  claimed  to  be  due,  or  his  law 
ful  agent,  to  work  or  to  be  employed  in  or  upon  any  fort,  navy 
yard,  dock,  armory,  ship,  entrenchment,  or  in  any  military  or 
naval  service  whatsoever,  against  the  Government  and  lawful 
authority  of  the  United  States,  then,  and  in  every  such  case,  the 
person  to  whom  such  labor  or  service  is  claimed  to  be  due  shall 
forfeit  his  claim  to  such  labor,  any  law  of  the  State  or  of  the 
United  States  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  And  whenever 
thereafter  the  person  claiming  such  labor  or  service  shall  seek  to 
enforce  his  claim,  it  shall  be  a  full  and  sufficient  answer  to  such 
claim  that  the  person  whose  service  or  labor  is  claimed  had  been 
employed  in  hostile  service  against  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  this  act. 


No.   125.     Act   authorizing   the   Seizure   of 
Railroad  and  Telegraph  Lines 

January  31,  1862 

IN  his  report  of  July  i,  1861,  the  Secretary  of  War,  Cameron,  stated  that 
the  resistance  to  the  passage  of  troops  through  Baltimore,  the  destruction  of 
bridges  on  certain  railroads,  and  the  refusal  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Rail 
road  Company  to  transport  government  forces  and  supplies,  had  made  it 
necessary  "to  take  possession  of  so  much  of  the  railway  lines  as  was  required 
to  form  a  connection  with  the  States  from  which  troops  and  supplies  were 
expected;"  and  an  appropriation  for  the  construction  and  operation,  when 
necessary,  of  railroad  and  telegraph  lines  was  recommended.  Further  specific 
recommendations  for  construction  were  made  in  the  annual  report  of  Decem 
ber  i.  A  bill  in  accordance  with  the  earlier  recommendation  was  reported  to 
the  Senate,  January  22,  by  Benjamin  F.  Wade  of  Ohio,  from  the  Joint  Com 
mittee  on  the  Conduct  of  the  War,  and  passed  with  amendments  on  the  28th 
by  a  vote  of  23  to  12.  The  next  day,  by  a  vote  of  113  to  28,  the  bill  passed 
the  House,  and  on  the  3ist  the  act  was  approved.  An  order  taking  military 
possession  of  all  railroads  was  issued  May  25. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XII.,  334,  335.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  3yth  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Globe.  The  debate  in  the  Senate  is  of  most  importance.  Cameron's 
report  of  1861  is  in  the  Globe,  Appendix. 


i862J     SEIZURE  OF  RAILROAD  AND  TELEGRAPH  LINES     445 

An  Act  to  authorize  the  President  of  the  United  States  in  certain 
Cases  to  take  Possession  of  Railroad  and  Telegraph  Lines,  and 
for  other  Purposes. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
when  in  his  judgment  the  public  safety  may  require  it,  be,  and 
he  is  hereby  authorized  to  take  possession  of  any  or  all  the  tele 
graph  lines  in  the  United  States,  their  offices  and  appurtenances; 
to  take  possession  of  any  or  all  the  railroad  lines  in  the  United 
States,  their  rolling-stock,  their  offices,  shops,  buildings,  and  all 
their  appendages  and  appurtenances;  to  prescribe  rules  and 
regulations  for  the  holding,  using,  and  maintaining  of  the  afore 
said  telegraph  and  railroad  lines,  and  to  extend,  repair,  and  com 
plete  the  same,1  in  the  manner  most  conducive  to  the  safety  and 
interest  of  the  Government;  to  place  under  military  control  all 
the  officers,  agents,  and  employes  belonging  to  the  telegraph  and 
railroad  lines  thus  taken  possession  of  by  the  President,  so  that 
they  shall  be  considered  as  a  post  road  and  a  part  of  the  military 
establishment  of  the  United  States,  subject  to  all  the  restrictions 
imposed  by  the  rules  and  articles  of  war. 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  any  attempt  by  any 
party  or  parties  whomsoever,  in  any  State  or  District  in  which 
the  laws  of  the  United  States  are  opposed,  or  the  execution 
thereof  obstructed  by  insurgents  and  rebels  against  the  United 
States,  too  powerful  to  be  suppressed  by  the  ordinary  course  of 
judicial  proceedings,  to  resist  or  interfere  with  the  unrestrained 
use  by  Government  of  the  property  described  in  the  preceding 
section,  or  any  attempt  to  injure  or  destroy  the  property  afore 
said,  shall  be  punished  as  a  military  offence,  by  death,  or  such 
other  penalty  as  a  court-martial  may  impose. 

******** 

SEC.  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  transportation  of 
troops,  munitions  of  war,  equipments,  military  property  and 
stores,  throughout  the  United  States,  shall  be  under  the  immedi 
ate  control  and  supervision  of  the  Secretary  of  War  and  such 
agents  as  he  may  appoint;  and  all  rules,  regulations,  articles, 
usages,  and  laws  in  conflict  with  this  provision  are  hereby  annulled. 
******** 

1  By  a  joint  resolution  of  July  14,  1862,  so  much  of  the  act  as  authorized  the 
.construction,  extension,  or  completion  of  any  railroad  was  repealed.  —  ED. 


446  ISSUE   OF   LEGAL   TENDER  NOTES  [Feb.  25 

No.  126.    Act  authorizing  the  Issue  of  Legal 
Tender  Notes 

February  25,  1862 

IN  his  annual  report  of  December  9,  1861,  Secretary  Chase  stated  that 
loans  to  the  amount  of  $200,000,000  would  be  required  to  meet  the  estimated 
expenditures  for  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30,  1862.  He  proposed  the 
establishment  of  a  national  banking  system,  but  did  not  recommend  the  fur 
ther  issue  of  treasury  notes.  December  28  the  New  York  banks  suspended 
specie  payment.  By  a  joint  resolution  of  January  21,  1862,  Congress  an 
nounced  its  intention  of  raising  $i  50,000,000  by  taxes  and  duties.  January  22 
Elbridge  G.  Spaulding  of  New  York  reported  to  the  House,  from  the  Com 
mittee  of  Ways  and  Means,  a  bill  to  authorize  the  issue  of  legal  tender  notes, 
etc.,  being  a  substitute  for  a  bill  for  the  issue  of  $100,000,000  demand  notes, 
but  without  the  legal  tender  provision,  reported  by  Spaulding  January  7. 
The  bill  encountered  strong  opposition  both  in  and  out  of  Congress,  but  on 
February  6  it  passed  the  House,  with  various  amendments,  by  a  vote  of  93  to 
59.  On  the  i3th  the  Senate,  by  a  vote  of  17  to  22,  rejected  an  amendment 
striking  out  the  legal  tender  clause,  and  passed  the  bill  with  amendments  by 
a  vote  of  30  to  7.  The  House  refusing  to  concur  in  the  amendments  of 
the  Senate,  the  bill  went  to  a  conference  committee,  whose  report  was  accepted 
on  the  24th  by  the  House  by  a  vote  of  98  to  22,  and  by  the  Senate  without  a 
division.  The  next  day,  however,  on  the  motion  of  Fessenden,  the  action  of 
the  Senate  was  reconsidered  and  a  second  conference  asked  for.  The  report 
of  this  committee  was  accepted  by  the  houses,  and  on  the  25th  the  act  was 
approved.  A  further  issue  of  legal  tender  notes,  to  the  amount  of  $i  50,000,000, 
was  authorized  by  an  act  of  July  n,  a  third,  to  the  amount  of  $100,000,000, 
by  a  joint  resolution  of  January  17,  1863,  and  a  fourth,  of  $150,000,000, 
March  3,  1863. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XII.,  345-348.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  37th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Globe,  where  are  also  the  texts  of  the  numerous  amendments  offered. 
Morrill's  substitute,  embodying  the  recommendations  of  business  men  and 
bankers  in  consultation  with  Chase,  and  without  the  legal  tender  clause,  is 
summarized  in  the  Globe  for  February  4.  On  the  constitutionality  of  the  legal 
tender  provision  see  Hepburn  v.  Griswold,  8  Wallace,  603;  Legal  Tender- 
Cases,  12  ibid.,  457;  Juillard  v.  Greenman,  no  U.S.  Reports,  421. 

An  Act  to  authorize  the  Issue  of  United  States  Notes,  and  for  the 
Redemption  or  Funding  thereof,  and  for  Funding  the  Floating 
Debt  of  the  United  States. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is 
hereby  authorized  to  issue,  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States, 


1862]  ISSUE   OF  LEGAL  TENDER  NOTES  447 

one  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  dollars  of  United  States  notes, 
not  bearing  interest,  payable  to  bearer,  at  the  Treasury  of  the 
United  States,  and  of  such  denominations  as  he  may  deem  ex 
pedient,  not  less  than  five  dollars  each:  Provided,  however,  That 
fifty  millions  of  said  notes  shall  be  in  lieu  of  the  demand  Treas 
ury  notes  authorized  to  be  issued  by  the  act  of  ...  [July  17, 
1861]  .  .  .  ;  which  said  demand  notes  shall  be  taken  up  as  rapidly 
as  practicable,  and  .the  notes  herein  provided  for  substituted  for 
them:  And  provided  further,  That  the  amount  of  the  two  kinds 
of  notes  together  shall  at  no  time  exceed  the  sum  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty  millions  of  dollars,  and  such  notes  herein  authorized  shall 
be  receivable  in  payment  of  all  taxes,  internal  duties,  excises,  debts, 
and  demands  of  every  kind  due  to  the  United  States,  except  duties 
on  imports,  and  of  all  claims  and  demands  against  the  United 
States  of  every  kind  whatsoever,  except  for  interest  upon  bonds 
and  notes,  which  shall  be  paid  in  coin,  and  shall  also  be  lawful 
money  and  a  legal  tender  in  payment  of  all  debts,  public  and 
private,  within  the  United  States,  except  duties  on  imports  and 
interest  as  aforesaid.  .  .  .  And  such  United  States  notes  shall  be 
received  the  same  as  coin,  at  their  par  value,  in  payment  for  any 
loans  that  may  be  hereafter  sold  or  negotiated  by  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  and  may  be  re-issued  from  time  to  time  as  the 
exigencies  of  the  public  interests  shall  require. 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  to  enable  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury  to  fund  the  Treasury  notes  and  floating 
debt  of  the  United  States,  he  is  hereby  authorized  to  issue,  on 
the  credit  of  the  United  States,  coupon  bonds,  or  registered 
bonds,  to  an  amount  not  exceeding  five  hundred  millions  of 
dollars,  redeemable  at  the  pleasure  of  the  United  States  after 
five  years,  and  payable  twenty  years  from  date,  and  bearing 
interest  at  the  rate  of  six  per  centum  per  annum,  payable  semi- 
annually  .  .  .  ;  and  all  stocks,  bonds,  and  other  securities  of  the 
United  States  held  by  individuals,  corporations,  or  associations, 
within  the  United  States,  shall  be  exempt  from  taxation  by  or 
under  State  authority. 

******** 

SEC.  5.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  all  duties  on  imported 
goods  shall  be  paid  in  coin,  or  in  notes  payable  on  demand 
heretofore  authorized  to  be  issued  and  by  law  receivable  in  pay- 


ADDITIONAL  ARTICLE   OF  WAR  [March  13 

ment  of  public  dues,  and  the  coin  so  paid  shall  be  set  apart  as 
a  special  fund,  and  shall  be  applied  as  follows : 

First.  To  the  payment  in  coin  of  the  interest  on  the  bonds 
and  notes  of  the  United  States. 

Second.  To  the  purchase  or  payment  of  one  per  centum  of 
the  entire  debt  of  the  United  States,  to  be  made  within  each 
fiscal  year  after  .  .  .  [July  i,  1862]  .  .  .  ,  which  is  to  be  set 
apart  as  a  sinking  fund,  and  the  interest  of  which  shall  in  like 
manner  be  applied  to  the  purchase  or  payment  of  the  public  debt 
as  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  shall  from  time  to  time  direct. 

Third.  The  residue  thereof  to  be  paid  into  the  Treasury  of 
the  United  States. 


No.  127.     Act  for  an  Additional  Article  of 

War 


March  13,  1862 

JULY  9,  1861,  the  House  of  Representatives,  by  a  vote  of  92  to  55,  resolved 
that  "it  is  no  part  of  the  duty  of  the  soldiers  of  the  United  States  to  capture 
and  return  fugitive  slaves."  December  23  the  House  Committee  on  Military 
Affairs  was  instructed  to  report  a  bill  to  make  an  additional  article  of  war  for 
bidding  the  use  of  the  United  States  troops  to  return  fugitives  from  service  or 
labor.  A  bill  to  that  effect  was  reported  February  25,  and  passed,  after  much 
obstructive  opposition,  by  a  vote  of  95  to  51.  March  10,  in  the  Senate,  an 
amendment  "that  this  article  shall  not  apply  in  the  States  of  Delaware,  Mary 
land,  Missouri,  and  Kentucky,  nor  elsewhere  where  the  federal  authority  is 
recognized  or  can  be  enforced,"  was  rejected,  and  the  bill,  by  a  vote  of  29  to  9, 
passed. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XII.,  354.  For  the  debates 
see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  37th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  and  the  Cong.  Globe. 
Various  military  orders  and  reports  relating  to  the  subject  are  collected  in 
McPherson,  Rebellion,  244  seq. 

An  Act  to  make  an  additional  Article  of  War. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  hereafter  the  following  shall  be  pro 
mulgated  as  an  additional  article  of  war  for  the  government  of 
the  army  of  the  United  States,  and  shall  be  obeyed  and  observed 
as  such: 


1862]  COMPENSATED   EMANCIPATION  449 

Article  — .  All  officers  or  persons  in  the  military  or  naval  ser 
vice  of  the  United  States  are  prohibited  from  employing  any  of 
the  forces  under  their  respective  commands  for  the  purpose  of 
returning  fugitives  from  service  or  labor,  who  may  have  escaped 
from  any  persons  to  whom  such  service  or  labor  is  claimed  to  be 
due,  and  any  officer  who  shall  be  found  guilty  by  a  court-martial 
of  violating  this  article  shall  be  dismissed  from  the  service. 


No.  128.     Joint  Resolution  on  Compensated 
Emancipation 

April  10,  1862 

THE  first  proposition  for  compensated  emancipation  seems  to  have  been 
brought  forward  by  James  B.  McKean  of  New  York,  who  introduced  in  the 
House,  February  n,  1861,  a  resolution  for  the  appointment  of  a  select  com 
mittee  to  inquire  into  the  practicability  of  emancipating  the  slaves  in  the  bor 
der  States.  No  action  was  taken  on  the  resolution.  In  a  special  message  to 
Congress,  March  6,  1862,  Lincoln  recommended  the  adoption  of  a  resolution 
in  the  identical  terms  of  the  resolution  following.  The  resolution  was  intro 
duced  in  the  House,  March  10,  by  Roscoe  Conkling  of  New  York,  under  sus 
pension  of  the  rules,  and  the  next  day  passed  by  a  vote  of  97  to  36.  The 
Senate  passed  the  resolution  April  2,  the  vote  being  32  to  10.  April  7,  by  a 
vote  of  67  to  52,  the  House  adopted  a  resolution,  submitted  by  Albert  S. 
White  of  Indiana,  for  the  appointment  of  a  select  committee  of  nine  on  com 
pensated  emancipation  in  the  border  States.  On  March  10,  and  again  on 
July  12,  Lincoln  had  interviews  with  representatives  of  the  border  States,  but 
the  conferences  were  fruitless.  In  his  proclamation  of  May  19,  setting  aside 
General  Hunter's  proclamation  declaring  free  the  slaves  in  Georgia,  Florida, 
and  South  Carolina,  Lincoln  made  an  earnest  plea  for  the  acceptance  of  the 
offer  proposed  by  the  resolution;  while  in  his  annual  message  of  December  i, 
1862,  he  discussed  the  subject  at  length,  and  proposed  an  amendment  to  the 
Constitution  to  carry  the  plan  into  effect.  Bills  providing  for  compensated 
emancipation  in  Missouri  and  Maryland  were  introduced  in  the  House  in 
January,  1863,  but  failed  to  pass. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XII.,  617,  For  the  pro 
ceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  37th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Globe.  Papers  relating  to  Lincoln's  interviews  with  representatives  of 
the  border  States  are  in  McPherson,  Rebellion,  213-220.  See  also  Senate  Re 
port  12  and  House  Report  148,  37th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.;  House  Report  33,  39th 
Cong.,  ist  Sess. 

2G 


450  SLAVERY   IN   DISTRICT   OF   COLUMBIA        [April  16 


Joint  Resolution  declaring  that  the  United  States  ought  to  cooperate 
with,  affording  pecuniary  Aid  to  any  State  which  may  adopt  the 
gradual  Abolishment  of  Slavery. 

Be  it  resolved  .  .  .  ,  That  the  United  States  ought  to  cooper 
ate  with  any  State  which  may  adopt  gradual  abolishment  of 
slavery,  giving  to  such  State  pecuniary  aid,  to  be  used  by  such 
State  in  its  discretion,  to  compensate  for  the  inconveniences, 
public  and  private,  produced  by  such  change  of  system. 


No.  129.     Act  abolishing  Slavery  in  the 
District  of  Columbia 


April  16,  1862 

A  BILL  "for  the  release  of  certain  persons  held  to  service  or  labor  in  the 
District  of  Columbia"  was  introduced  in  the  Senate,  December  16,  1861,  by 
Henry  Wilson  of  Massachusetts.  The  debate  on  the  bill  began  March  1 2  and 
developed  much  opposition,  but  April  3,  by  a  vote  of  29  to  14,  the  bill  passed. 
In  the  House  a  motion  to  reject  the  bill  was  lost,  45  to  93,  and  on  the  nth  the 
bill  passed,  the  final  vote  being  85  to  40.  In  his  message  of  approval  Lincoln 
suggested  that  further  time  be  allowed  for  the  presentation  of  claims,  and  that 
provision  be  made  for  " minors,  femmes  covert,  insane,  or  absent  persons"; 
and  a  supplementary  act  was  passed  July  1 2  embodying  these  changes.  The 
civil  appropriation  act  of  July  16  made  an  appropriation  of  $500,000  for  the 
removal  and  colonization  of  the  emancipated  negroes,  but  this,  as  to  the  unex 
pended  balance,  together  with  section  eleven  of  the  act  of  April  16,  was  re 
pealed  by  the  civil  appropriation  act  of  July  2, 1864.  Acts  of  May  20  and  21 
provided  for  the  education  of  colored  children  in  the  District. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XII.,  376-378.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  37th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,and  the 
Cong.  Globe.  Calvert's  minority  report,  March  12,  is  House  Report  58.  For 
a  report  of  the  commissioners  see  House  Exec.  Doc.  42,  38th  Cong.,  ist  Sess. 

An  Act  for  the  Release  of  certain  Persons  held  to  Service  or  Labor 
in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  all  persons  held  to  service  or  labor 
within  the  District  of  Columbia  by  reason  of  African  descent  are 
hereby  discharged  and  freed  of  and  from  all  claim  to  such  service 


1862]  SLAVERY  IN   DISTRICT   OF   COLUMBIA  451 

or  labor ;  and  from  and  after  the  passage  of  this  act  neither  slav 
ery  nor  involuntary  servitude,  except  for  crime,  whereof  the  party 
shall  be  duly  convicted,  shall  hereafter  exist  in  said  District. 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  all  persons  loyal  to  the 
United  States,  holding  claims  to  service  or  labor  against  persons 
discharged  therefrom  by  this  act,  may,  within  ninety  days  from  the 
passage  thereof,  but  not  thereafter,  present  to  the  commissioners 
hereinafter  mentioned  their  respective  statements  or  petitions  in 
writing,  verified  by  oath  or  affirmation,  setting  forth  the  names, 
ages,  and  personal  description  of  such  persons,  the  manner  in  which 
said  petitioners  acquired  such  claim,  and  any  facts  touching  the 
value  thereof,  and  declaring  his  allegiance  to  the  Government  of 
the  United  States,  and  that  he  has  not  borne  arms  against  the 
United  States  during  the  present  rebellion,  nor  in  any  way  given 
aid  or  comfort  thereto:  Provided,  That  the  oath  of  the  party  to 
the  petition  shall  not  be  evidence  of  the  facts  therein  stated. 

SEC.  3.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  shall 
appoint  three  commissioners,  residents  of  the  District  of  Colum 
bia,  .  .  .  who  shall  receive  the  petitions  above  mentioned,  and 
who  shall  investigate  and  determine  the  validity  and  value  of  the 
claims  therein  presented,  as  aforesaid,  and  appraise  and  apportion, 
under  the  proviso  hereto  annexed,  the  value  in  money  of  the  several 
claims  by  them  found  to  be  valid:  Provided,  however,  That  the 
entire  sum  so  appraised  and  apportioned  shall  not  exceed  in  the 
aggregate  an  amount  equal  to  three  hundred  dollars  for  each  person 
shown  to  have  been  so  held  by  lawful  claim :  And  provided,  further, 
That  no  claim  shall  be  allowed  for  any  slave  or  slaves  brought 
into  said  District  after  the  passage  of  this  act,  nor  for  any  slave 
claimed  by  any  person  who  has  borne  arms  against  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  in  the  present  rebellion,  or  in  any  way 
given  aid  or  comfort  thereto,  or  which  originates  in  or  by  virtue 
of  any  transfer  heretofore  made,  or  which  shall  hereafter  be  made 
by  any  person  who  has  in  any  manner  aided  or  sustained  the 
rebellion  against  the  Government  of  the  United  States. 

******** 


452  OATH   OF   OFFICE  [Julys 

No.  130.     Abolition  of  Slavery  in  the  Ter 
ritories 

June  ig,  1862 

MARCH  24,  1862,  Isaac  N.  Arnold  of  Illinois  introduced  in  the  House  a  bill 
"  to  render  freedom  national  and  slavery  sectional."  Another  bill  with  a  simi 
lar  title  was  introduced  May  i  by  Owen  Lovejoy  of  Illinois.  The  latter  bill, 
with  amended  title,  was  reported  May  8  as  a  substitute  for  the  Arnold  bill, 
and  on  the  i2th  passed  the  House  by  a  vote  of  85  to  50.  The  Senate,  June  9, 
amended  the  House  bill  by  substituting  the  text  of  the  act  as  passed,  the  vote 
being  28  to  10.  On  the  iyth  the  House  concurred  in  the  Senate  amendment, 
and  on  the  igth  the  act  was  approved.  The  prohibition  of  the  act  was  in 
corporated  in  the  later  acts  organizing  the  Territories  of  Arizona  and  Idaho. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XII.,  432.  For  the  pro 
ceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  37th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Globe. 

An  Act  to  secure  Freedom  to  all  Persons  within  the  Territories 
of  the  United  States. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  from  and  after  the  passage  of  this 
act  there  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  in  any  of 
the  Territories  of  the  United  States  now  existing,  or  which  may  at 
any  time  hereafter  be.  formed  or  acquired  by  the  United  States, 
otherwise  than  in  punishment  of  crimes  whereof  the  party  shall 
have  been  duly  convicted. 


No.  131.     Oath  of  Office 

July  2,  1862 

BY  an  act  of  August  6,  1861,  all  members  of  the  civil  departments  of  the 
government  were  required  to  take  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United  States 
"against  all  enemies,  domestic  or  foreign,  .  .  .  any  ordinance,  resolution,  or 
law  of  any  State  convention  or  legislature  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding." 
An  act  of  May  20,  1862,  required  voters  in  Washington  and  Georgetown,  if 
challenged  for  disloyalty,  to  take  a  similar  oath,  with  the  addition  of  a  clause 
declaring  that  the  subscriber  had  "always  been  loyal  and  true  to  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States."  An  act  of  June  17  imposed  upon  grand  and 


i86z]  OATH   OF  OFFICE  453 

petit  jurors  in  United  States  courts  an  oath  declaring  "that  you  have  not 
without  duress  and  constraint,  taken  up  arms,  or  joined  any  insurrection  or 
rebellion  against  the  United  States;  that  you  have  not  adhered  to  any  in 
surrection  or  rebellion,  giving  it  aid  and  comfort;  that  you  have  not,  directly 
or  indirectly,  given  any  assistance  in  money,  or  any  other  thing,  to  any  person 
or  persons  whom  you  knew,  or  had  good  ground  to  believe,  had  joined,  or 
was  about  to  join,  said  insurrection  and  rebellion,  or  had  resisted,  or  was  about 
to  resist,  with  force  of  arms,  the  execution  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States;  and 
that  you  have  not  counselled  or  advised  any  person  or  persons  to  join  any  re 
bellion  against,  or  to  resist  with  force  of  arms,  the  laws  of  the  United  States." 
The  so-called  "iron-clad"  oath  of  July  2  had  its  origin  in  a  bill  introduced  in 
the  House,  March  24,  by  James  F.  Wilson  of  Iowa,  "declaring  certain  per 
sons  ineligible  to  office."  June  4  a  substitute  reported  by  the  Committee  on 
Judiciary,  being  a  modified  form  of  an  amendment  previously  offered  by  Hor 
ace  Maynard  of  Tennessee  to  a  bill  to  free  the  slaves  of  rebels,  was  agreed  to, 
and  the  bill  passed,  the  vote  being  78  to  47.  The  Senate,  on  motion  of 
Garrett  Davis  of  Kentucky,  added  an  amendment  excepting  the  Vice-Presi 
dent  and  Senators  and  Representatives,  the  amended  bill  passing  the  Senate 
on  the  23d  by  a  vote  of  33  to  5.  The  House  disagreeing,  the  Senate  receded 
from  so  much  of  its  amendment  as  excepted  Senators  and  Representatives, 
and  in  this  form  the  bill  passed.  The  acts  of  June  17  and  July  2  were  re 
pealed  by  an  act  of  May  13,  1884. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XII.,  502,  503.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  37th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  and 
the  Cong.  Globe.  On  the  loyalty  of  government  employees  see  House  Report 
16, 37th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.  On  the  modification  of  the  oath  see  House  Exec. 
Doc.  81,  39th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  House  Report,  51,  ibid.,  Senate  Exec.  Doc.  38, 
ibid.,  and  No.  159,  post. 

An  Act  to  prescribe  an  Oath  of  Office,  and  for  other  Purposes. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  hereafter  every  person  elected  or 
appointed  to  any  office  of  honor  or  profit  under  the  government 
of  the  United  States,  either  in  the  civil,  military  or  naval  depart 
ments  of  the  public  service,  excepting  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  shall,  before  entering  upon  the  duties  of  such  office,  and 
before  being  entitled  to  any  of  the  salary  or  other  emoluments 
thereof,  take  and  subscribe  the  following  oath  or  affirmation: 
"I,  A.  B.,  do  solemnly  swear  (or  affirm)  that  I  have  never  volun 
tarily  borne  arms  against  the  United  States  since  I  have  been  a 
citizen  thereof ;  that  I  have  voluntarily  given  no  aid,  countenance, 
counsel,  or  encouragement  to  persons  engaged  in  armed  hostility 
thereto;  that  I  have  neither  sought  nor  accepted  nor  attempted 
to  exercise  the  functions  of  any  office  whatever,  under  any  author- 


454  CONFISCATION  ACT  [July  17 

ity  or  pretended  authority  in  hostility  to  the  United  States;  that 
I  have  not  yielded  a  voluntary  support  to  any  pretended  govern 
ment,  authority,  power  or  constitution  within  the  United  States, 
hostile  or  inimical  thereto.  And  I  do  further  swear  (or  affirm) 
that,  to  the  best  of  my  knowledge  and  ability,  I  will  support  and 
defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  against  all  enemies, 
foreign  and  domestic;  that  I  will  bear  true  faith  and  allegiance 
to  the  same ;  that  I  take  this  obligation  freely,  without  any  mental 
reservation  or  purpose  of  evasion,  and  that  I  will  well  and  faith 
fully  discharge  the  duties  of  the  office  on  which  I  am  about  to 
enter,  so  help  me  God;"  .  .  . 


No.  132.     Confiscation  Act 

July  17,  1862 

A  BILL  "to  confiscate  the  property  of  rebels  for  the  payment  of  the  ex 
penses  of  the  present  rebellion"  was  reported  in  the  House,  May  14,  1862,  by 
Thomas  D.  Eliot  of  Massachusetts,  from  the  select  committee  on  the  confisca 
tion  of  rebel  property,  together  with  a  bill  to  free  the  slaves  of  rebels.  On  the 
26th  a  substitute  for  the  two  bills,  offered  by  Morrill  of  Vermont  on  the  2oth, 
was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  25  to  122,  and  the  bill  passed,  the  vote  being  82  to 
68.  The  House  bill  was  more  stringent  than  the  act  finally  passed,  but  a 
substitute  agreed  to  by  the  Senate,  June  28,  by  a  vote  of  28  to  13,  was  thought 
by  the  House  too  lenient,  and  by  a  vote  of  8  to  123  the  amendment  of  the 
Senate  was  disagreed  to.  The  report  of  the  conference  committee,  being 
the  Senate  substitute  with  amendments,  was  agreed  to  by  the  House,  July  n, 
by  a  vote  of  82  to  42,  and  by  the  Senate,  July  12,  by  a  vote  of  28  to  13. 
President  Lincoln  had  intended  to  veto  the  bill  on  the  ground  that  under,  it 
offenders  would  be  forever  divested  of  title  to  their  real  estate,  and  punish 
ment  would  thus  be  made  to  extend  beyond  the  life  of  the  guilty  party.  To 
obviate  this  objection,  a  joint  resolution  explanatory  of  the  act  was  hurried 
through  both  houses  July  17.  Lincoln,  in  communicating  to  Congress  his 
approval  of  the  act  and  the  resolution,  transmitted  also  the  veto  message 
which  he  had  already  prepared.  A  proclamation  under  section  6  of  the  act 
was  issued  the  same  day  that  the  act  as  approved,  and  December  8,  1863,  a 
proclamation  of  amnesty  [No.  137]  under  section  13.  The  latter  section 
was  repealed,  with  the  purpose  of  restricting  the  pardoning  power  of  the 
President,  July  17,  1867. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XII.,  589-592.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  37th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Globe.  The  texts  of  all  amendments  and  substitutes  are  in  the  Globe. 
The  debates  called  out  numerous  formal  speeches.  On  the  seizure  of  lands 


1862]  CONFISCATION   ACT  455 

under  the  act  see  a  report  by  O.  O.  Howard,  House  Exec.  Doc.  19,  39th  Cong., 
ist  Sess.;   see  also  Senate  Exec.  Doc.  58,  4oth  Cong.,  2d  Sess. 

An  Act  to  suppress  Insurrection,  to  punish  Treason  and  Rebellion, 
to  seize  and  confiscate  the  Property  of  Rebels,  and  for  other  Pur 
poses. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  every  person  who  shall  hereafter  com 
mit  the  crime  of  treason  against  the  United  States,  and  shall  be 
adjudged  guilty  thereof,  shall  suffer  death,  and  all  his  slaves,  if 
any,  shall  be  declared  and  made  free;  or,  at  the  discretion  of  the 
court,  he  shall  be  imprisoned  for  not  less  than  five  years  and  fined 
not  less  than  ten  thousand  dollars,  and  all  his  slaves,  if  any,  shall 
be  declared  and  made  free;  .  .  . 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  if  any  person  shall 
hereafter  incite,  set  on  foot,  assist,  or  engage  in  any  rebellion  or 
insurrection  against  the  authority  of  the  United  States,  or  the  laws 
thereof,  or  shall  give  aid  or  comfort  thereto,  or  shall  engage  in,  or 
give  aid  and  comfort  to,  any  such  existing  rebellion  or  insurrection, 
and  be  convicted  thereof,  such  person  shall  be  punished  by  im 
prisonment  for  a  period  not  exceeding  ten  years,  or  by  a  fine  not 
exceeding  ten  thousand  dollars,  and  by  the  liberation  of  all  his 
slaves,  if  any  he  have;  or  by  both  of  said  punishments,  at  the 
discretion  of  the  court. 

SEC.  3.     And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  every  person  guilty  of 
either  of  the  offences  described  in  this  act  shall  be  forever  incapable 
and  disqualified  to  hold  any  office  under  the  United  States. 
******** 

SEC.  5.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That,  to  insure  the  speedy 
termination  of  the  present  rebellion,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States  to  cause  the  seizure  of  all  the  estate 
and  property,  money,  stocks,  credits,  and  effects  of  the  persons 
hereinafter  named  in  this  section,  and  to  apply  and  use  the  same 
and  the  proceeds  thereof  for  the  support  of  the  army  of  the  United 
States,  that  is  to  say : 

First.  Of  any  person  hereafter  acting  as  an  officer  of  the  army 
or  navy  of  the  rebels  in  arms  against  the  government  of  the  United 
States. 

Secondly.  Of  any  person  hereafter  acting  as  President,  Vice- 
President,  member  of  Congress,  judge  of  any  court,  cabinet  officerj 


456  CONFISCATION   ACT  [July  17 

foreign  minister,  commissioner  or  consul  of  the  so-called  confeder 
ate  states  of  America. 

Thirdly.  Of  any  person  acting  as  governor  of  a  state,  member 
of  a  convention  or  legislature,  or  judge  of  any  court  of  any  of  the 
so-called  confederate  states  of  America.1 

Fourthly.  Of  any  person  who,  having  held  an  office  of  honor, 
trust,  or  profit  in  the  United  States,  shall  hereafter  hold  an  office 
in  the  so-called  confederate  states  of  America. 

Fifthly.  Of  any  person  hereafter  holding  any  office  or  agency 
under  the  government  of  the  so-called  confederate  states  of  Amer 
ica,  or  under  any  of  the  several  states  of  the  said  confederacy,  or 
the  laws  thereof,  whether  such  office  or  agency  be  national,  state, 
or  municipal  in  its  name  or  character :  Provided,  That  the  persons, 
thirdly,  fourthly,  and  fifthly  above  described  shall  have  accepted 
their  appointment  or  election  since  the  date  of  the  pretended 
ordinance  of  recession  of  the  state,  or  shall  have  taken  an  oath 
of  allegiance  to,  or  to  support  the  constitution  of  the  so-called 
confederate  states. 

Sixthly.  Of  any  person  who,  owning  property  in  any  loyal 
State  or  Territory  of  the  United  States,  or  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  shall  hereafter  assist  and  give  aid  and  comfort  to  such 
rebellion;  .  .  . 

******** 

SEC.  9.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  all  slaves  of  persons 
who  shall  hereafter  be  engaged  in  rebellion  against  the  govern 
ment  of  the  United  States,  or  who  shall  in  any  way  give  aid  or 
comfort  thereto,  escaping  from  such  persons  and  taking  refuge 
within  the  lines  of  the  army;  and  all  slaves  captured  from  such 
persons  or  deserted  by  them  and  coming  under  the  control  of  the 
government  of  the  United  States;  and  all  slaves  of  such  persons 
found  on  [or]  being  within  any  place  occupied  by  rebel  forces  and 
afterwards  occupied  by  the  forces  of  the  United  States,  shall  be 
deemed  captives  of  war,  and  shall  be  forever  free  of  their  servi 
tude,  and  not  again  held  as  slaves. 

SEC.  10.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  no  slave  escaping  into 
any  State,  Territory,  or  the  District  of  Columbia,  from  any  other 
State,  shall  be  delivered  up,  or  in  any  way  impeded  or  hindered  of 
his  liberty,  except  for  crime,  or  some  offence  against  the  laws, 

1  See  joint  resolution  of  July  17  (U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  XII.,  627).  —  ED. 


i86a]  EMANCIPATION   PROCLAMATION  457 

unless  the  person  claiming  said  fugitive  shall  first  make  oath  that 
the  person  to  whom  the  labor  or  service  of  such  fugitive  is  alleged 
to  be  due  is  his  lawful  owner,  and  has  not  borne  arms  against  the 
United  States  in  the  present  rebellion,  nor  in  any  way  given  aid 
and  comfort  thereto;  and  no  person  engaged  in  the  military  or 
naval  service  of  the  United  States  shall,  under  any  pretence  what 
ever,  assume  to  decide  on  the  validity  of  the  claim  of  any  person 
to  the  service  or  labor  of  any  other  person,  or  surrender  up  any 
such  person  to  the  claimant,  on  pain  of  being  dismissed  from  the 
service. 

SEC.  ii.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  President  of  the 
United  States  is  authorized  to  employ  as  many  persons  of  African 
descent  as  he  may  deem  necessary  and  proper  for  the  suppression 
of  this  rebellion,  and  for  this  purpose  he  may  organize  and  use 
them  in  such  manner  as  he  may  judge  best  for  the  public  welfare. 
******** 


No.  133.     Emancipation  Proclamation 

January  i,   1863 

A  DRAFT  of  an  emancipation  proclamation  was  read  to  the  Cabinet  by 
Lincoln  July  22,  1862,  but  at  Seward's  suggestion  the  paper  was  laid  aside 
until  an  important  Union  victory  should  have  been  won.  The  desired  vic 
tory  came  at  Antietam,  September  16-17.  A  preliminary  proclamation  was 
issued  September  22,  and  the  definitive  one  January  i,  1863.  December  15, 
in  the  House,  a  resolution  declaring  that  the  proclamation  of  September  22 
"is  warranted  by  the  Constitution."  and  that  the  policy  of  emancipation  "was 
well  chosen  as  a  war  measure,  and  is  an  exercise  of  power  with  proper  regard 
for  the  rights  of  the  States  and  the  perpetuity  of  free  government,"  was 
adopted  by  a  vote  of  78  to  51. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XII.,  1 268,  1 269.  Various 
resolutions  submitted  in  the  House  and  Senate  are  collected  in  McPherson, 
Rebellion,  209-233;  on  Fremont's  proclamation  of  August  31,  1861,  see 
ibid.,  245-247.  See  also  House  Exec.  Doc.  72,  37th  Cong.,  3d  Sess. 

WHEREAS,  on  .  .  .  [September  22,  1862]  .  .  .  ,  a  proclamation 
was  issued  by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  containing,  among 
other  things,  the  following,  to  wit : 

"That  on  ...  [January  i,  1863]  •  •  .  ,  all  persons  held  as 


EMANCIPATION   PROCLAMATION  [Jan.  i 

slaves  within  any  state  or  designated  part  of  a  state,  the  people 
whereof  shall  then  be  in  rebellion  against  the  United  States, 
shall  be  then,  thenceforward,  and  forever,  free;  and  the  Execu 
tive  Government  of  the  United  States,  including  the  military 
and  naval  authority  thereof,  will  recognize  and  maintain  the 
freedom  of  such  persons,  and  will  do  no  act  or  acts  to  repress 
such  persons,  or  any  of  them,  in  any  efforts  they  may  make  for 
their  actual  freedom. 

"That  the  Executive  will,  on  the  first  day  of  January  afore 
said,  by  proclamation,  designate  the  states  and  parts  of  states, 
if  any,  in  which  the  people  thereof,  respectively,  shall  then  be  in 
rebellion  against  the  United  States;  and  the  fact  that  any  state, 
or  the  people  thereof,  shall  on  that  day  be  in  good  faith  repre 
sented  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  by  members  chosen 
thereto  at  elections  wherein  a  majority  of  the  qualified  voters  of  such 
states  shall  have  participated,  shall,  in  the  absence  of  strong  counter 
vailing  testimony,  be  deemed  conclusive  evidence  that  such  state, 
and  the  people  thereof,  are  not  then  in  rebellion  against  the  United 
States." 

Now,  therefore,  I,  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  President  of  the  United 
States,  by  virtue  of  the  power  in  me  vested  as  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  army  and  navy  of  the  United  States,  in  time  of  actual 
armed  rebellion  against  the  authority  and  Government  of  the 
United  States,  and  as  a  fit  and  necessary  war  measure  for  sup 
pressing  said  rebellion,  do,  on  this  first  day  of  January,  .  .  . 
[1863]  .  .  .  ,  and  in  accordance  with  my  purpose  so  to  do,  publicly 
proclaimed  for  the  full  period  of  one  hundred  days  from  the  day 
first  above  mentioned,  order  and  designate  as  the  states  and  parts 
of  states  wherein  the  people  thereof,  respectively,  are  this  day  in 
rebellion  against  the  United  States,  the  following,  to  wit : 

Arkansas,  Texas,  Louisiana,  (except  the  parishes  of  St.  Ber 
nard,  Plaquemines,  Jefferson,  St.  John,  St.  Charles,  St.  James, 
Ascension,  Assumption,  Terre  Bonne,  Lafourche,  St.  Mary,  St. 
Martin,  and  Orleans,  including  the  city  of  New  Orleans,)  Missis 
sippi,  Alabama,  Florida,  Georgia,  South  Carolina,  North  Carolina, 
and  Virginia,  (except  the  forty-eight  counties  designated  as  West 
Virginia,  and  also  the  counties  of  Berkeley,  Accomac,  North 
ampton,  Elizabeth  City,  York,  Princess  Ann,  and  Norfolk, 
including  the  cities  of  Norfolk  and  Portsmouth,)  and  which 


1863]  ENROLMENT  ACT  459 

excepted  parts  are  for  the  present  left  precisely  as  if  this  procla 
mation  were  not  issued. 

And  by  virtue  of  the  power  and  for  the  purpose  aforesaid,  I 
do  order  and  declare  that  all  persons  held  as  slaves  within  said 
designated  states  and  parts  of  states  are,  and  henceforward 
shall  be,  free;  and  that  the  Executive  Government  of  the  United 
States,  including  the  military  and  naval  authorities  thereof,  will 
recognize  and  maintain  the  freedom  of  said  persons. 

And  I  hereby  enjoin  upon  the  people  so  declared  to  be  free 
to  abstain  from  all  violence,  unless  in  necessary  self-defence; 
and  I  recommend  to  them  that,  in  all  cases  when  allowed,  they 
labor  faithfully  for  reasonable  wages. 

And  I  further  declare  and  make  known  that  such  persons,  of 
suitable  condition,  will  be  received  into  the  armed  service  of  the 
United  States  to  garrison  forts,  positions,  stations,  and  other 
places,  and  to  man  vessels  of  all  sorts  in  said  service. 

And  upon  this  act,  sincerely  believed  to  be  an  act  of  justice, 
warranted  by  the  Constitution  upon  military  necessity,  I  invoke 
the  considerate  judgment  of  mankind  and  the  gracious  favor  of 
Almighty  God. 


No.   134.    Enrolment  Act 

March  3,  1863 

AUGUST  4,  1862,  Lincoln  ordered  a  draft  of  300,000  men.  Four  days  later 
it  was  ordered  that  no  citizen  liable  to  be  drafted  should  be  allowed  to  go  to 
a  foreign  country.  The  draft  was  completed  early  in  September.  A  bill  to 
provide  for  enrolling  and  calling  out  the  national  forces  was  reported  in  the 
Senate,  February  9,  1863,  by  Wilson  of  Massachusetts,  from  the  Committee 
on  Military  Affairs  and  Militia,  to  whom  the  subject  had  been  referred,  and  on 
the  1 6th  passed  without  a  division.  In  the  House  a  motion  to  limit  the  enrol 
ment  to  white  citizens  was  lost  by  a  vote  of  53  to  85;  an  attempt  to  strike 
out  the  $300  commutation  clause  also  failed,  the  vote  being  67  to  87.  Febru 
ary  25  the  bill  passed  the  House.  The  Senate  concurred  in  the  House  amend 
ments,  and  March  3  the  act  was  approved.  A  proclamation  under  section 
twenty-six  of  the  act  was  issued  March  10,  followed  May  8  by'a  proclamation 
relative  to  the  status  of  aliens  under  the  act. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XII.,  731-737.     For  the 


460  ENROLMENT   ACT  [March  3 

proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  37th  Cong.,  3d  Sess.,  and  th? 
Cong.  Globe.  A  summary  of  the  bill  as  reported  in  the  Senate  is  in  the  Globe, 
February  16.  The  executive  orders  of  August  4  and  8,  1862,  are  in  Richard 
son,  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents,  VI. ,  120-121.  On  the  enforce 
ment  of  the  act  see  the  annual  report  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  1863. 

An  Act  for  enrolling  and  calling  out  the  national  Forces,  and  for 
other  Purposes. 

WHEREAS  there  now  exist  in  the  United  States  an  insurrection 
and  rebellion  against  the  authority  thereof,  and  it  is,  under 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  the  duty  of  the  govern 
ment  to  suppress  insurrection  and  rebellion,  to  guarantee  to 
each  State  a  republican  form  of  government,  and  to  preserve 
the  public  tranquillity;  and  whereas,  for  these  high  purposes, 
a  military  force  is  indispensable,  to  raise  and  support  which 
all  persons  ought  willingly  to  contribute;  and  whereas  no  ser 
vice  can  be  more  praiseworthy  and  honorable  than  that  which 
is  rendered  for  the  maintenance  of  the  Constitution  and  Union, 
and  the  consequent  preservation  of  free  government:  There 
fore— 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  all  able-bodied  male  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  and  persons  of  foreign  birth  who  shall  have  de 
clared  on  oath  their  intention  to  become  citizens  under  and  in 
pursuance  of  the  laws  thereof,  between  the  ages  of  twenty  and 
forty-five  years,  except  as  hereinafter  excepted,  are  hereby  declared 
to  constitute  the  national  forces,  and  shall  be  liable  to  perform 
military  duty  in  the  service  of  the  United  States  when  called  out  by 
the  President  for  that  purpose. 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  following  persons 
be,  and  they  are  hereby,  excepted  and  exempt  from  the  provi 
sions  of  this  act,  and  shall  not  be  liable  to  military  duty  under 
the  same,  to  wit:  Such  as  are  rejected  as  physically  or  mentally 
unfit  for  the  service;  also,  First  the  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States,  the  judges  of  the  various  courts  of  the  United  States,  the 
heads  of  the  various  executive  departments  of  the  government, 
and  the  governors  of  the  several  States.  Second,  the  only  son 
liable  to  military  duty  of  a  widow  dependent  upon  his  labor  for 
support.  Third,  the  only  son  of  aged  or  infirm  parent  or  parents 
dependent  upon  his  labor  for  support.  Fourth,  where  there  are 
two  or  more  sons  of  aged  or  infirm  parents  subject  to  draft,  the 


iS63]  ENROLMENT  ACT  461 

father,  or,  if  he  be  dead,  the  mother,  may  elect  which  son  shall 
be  exempt.  Fifth,  the  only  brother  of  children  not  twelve  years 
old,  having  neither  father  nor  mother  dependent  upon  his  labor 
for  support.  Sixth,  the  father  of  motherless  children  under 
twelve  years  of  age  dependent  upon  his  labor  for  support.  Sev 
enth,  where  there  are  a  father  and  sons  in  the  same  family  and 
household,  and  two  of  them  are  in  the  military  service  of  the 
United  States  as  non-commissioned  officers,  musicians,  or  pri 
vates,  the  residue  of  such  family  and  household,  not  exceeding 
two,  shall  be  exempt.  And  no  persons  but  such  as  are  herein 
excepted  shall  be  exempt:  Provided,  however,  That  no  person 
who  has  been  convicted  of  any  felony  shall  be  enrolled  or  per 
mitted  to  serve  in  said  forces. 

SEC.  3.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  national  forces  of 
the  United  States  not  now  in  the  military  service,  enrolled  under 
this  act,  shall  be  divided  into  two  classes :  the  first  of  which 
shall  comprise  all  persons  subject  to  do  military  duty  between 
the  ages  of  twenty  and  thirty-five  years,  and  all  unmarried  per 
sons  subject  to  do  military  duty  above  the  age  of  thirty-five  and 
under  the  age  of  forty -five;  the  second  class  shall  comprise  all 
other  persons  subject  to  do  military  duty,  and  they  shall  not,  in 
any  district,  be  called  into  the  service  of  the  United  States  until 
those  of  the  first  class  shall  have  been  called.1 

SEC.  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That,  for  greater  conven 
ience  in  enrolling,  calling  out,  and  organizing  the  national  forces, 
and  for  the  arrest  of  deserters  and  spies  of  the  enemy ,  the  United 
States  shall  be  divided  into  districts,  of  which  the  District  of 
Columbia  shall  constitute  one,  each  territory  of  the  United 
States  shall  constitute  one  or  more,  as  the  President  shall 
direct,  and  each  congressional  district  of  the  respective  states, 
as  fixed  by  a  law  of  the  state  next  preceding  the  enrolment,  shall 
constitute  one:  .  .  . 

SEC.  5.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  for  each  of  said  dis 
tricts  there  shall  be  appointed  by  the  President  a  provost-mar 
shal,  .  .  .  who  shall  be  under  the  direction  and  subject  to  the 
orders  of  a  provost-marshal-general,  .  .  .  whose  office  shall  be 
at  the  seat  of  government,  forming  a  separate  bureau  of  the  War 
Department.  .  .  . 

1  See  act  of  February  24,  1864,  section  n.  —  ED. 


462  ENROLMENT  ACT  [March  3 

[Sections  6  and  7.  Duties  of  provost-marshal-general  and  pro 
vost  marshals.] 

SEC.  8.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  in  each  of  said  districts 
there  shall  be  a  board  of  enrolment,  to  be  composed  of  the  pro 
vost-marshal,  as  president,  and  two  other  persons,  to  be  ap 
pointed  by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  one  of  whom  shall 
be  a  licensed  and  practising  physician  and  surgeon. 

SEC.  9.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of 
the  said  board  to  divide  the  district  into  sub-districts  of  con 
venient  size,  if  they  shall  deem  it  necessary,  not  exceeding  two, 
without  the  direction  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  to  appoint, 
on  or  before  the  tenth  day  of  March  next,  and  in  each  alternate 
year  thereafter,  an  enrolling  officer  for  each  sub-district,  and  to 
furnish  him  with  proper  blanks  and  instructions;  and  he  shall 
immediately  proceed  to  enrol  all  persons  subject  to  military 
duty,  noting  their  respective  places  of  residence,  ages  on  the 
first  day  of  July  following,  and  their  occupation,  and  shall,  on  or 
before  the  first  day  of  April,  report  the  same  to  the  board  of 
enrolment,  to  be  consolidated  into  one  list,  a  copy  of  wrhich  shall 
be  transmitted  to  the  provost-marshal-general  on  or  before  the 
first  day  of  May  succeeding  the  enrolment :  .  .  . 

******** 

SEC.  ii.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  all  persons  thus  en 
rolled  shall  be  subject,  for  two  years  after  the  first  day  of  July 
succeeding  the  enrolment,  to  be  called  into  the  military  service 
of  the  United  States,  and  to  continue  in  service  during  the  present 
rebellion,  not,  however,  exceeding  the  term  of  three  years.  .  .  . 

SEC.  12.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  whenever  it  may  be 
necessary  to  call  out  the  national  forces  for  military  service,  the 
President  is  hereby  authorized  to  assign  to  each  district  the  number 
of  men  to  be  furnished  by  said  district;  and  thereupon  the  enrolling 
board  shall,  under  the  direction  of  the  President,  make  a  draft  of 
the  required  number,  and  fifty  per  cent,  in  addition.  .  .  . 

SEC.  13.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  any  person  drafted 
and  notified  to  appear  as  aforesaid,  may,  on  or  before  the  day 
fixed  for  his  appearance,  furnish  an  acceptable  substitute  to 
take  his  place  in  the  draft;  or  he  may  pay  to  such  person  as  the 
Secretary  of  War  may  authorize  to  receive  it,  such  sum,  not  ex 
ceeding  three  hundred  dollars,  as  the  Secretary  may  determine, 


1863]  HABEAS   CORPUS  463 

for  the  procuration  of  each  substitute;  .  .  .  And  any  person 
failing  to  report  after  due  service  of  notice,  as  herein  prescribed, 
without  furnishing  a  substitute,  or  paying  the  required  sum 
therefor,  shall  be  deemed  a  deserter  .  .  . 

******** 

SEC.  25.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  if  any  person  shall 
resist  any  draft  of  men  enrolled  under  this  act  into  the  service 
of  the  United  States,  or  shall  counsel  or  aid  any  person  to  re 
sist  any  such  draft;  or  shall  assault  or  obstruct  any  officer  in 
making  such  draft,  or  in  the  performance  of  any  service  in  rela 
tion  thereto;  or  shall  counsel  any  person  to  assault  or  obstruct 
any  such  officer,  or  shall  counsel  any  drafted  men  not  to  appear 
at  the  place  of  rendezvous,  or  wilfully  dissuade  them  from  the 
performance  of  military  duty  as  required  by  law,  such  person 
shall  be  subject  to  summary  arrest  by  the  provost-marshal,  and 
shall  be  forthwith  delivered  to  the  civil  authorities,  and,  upon 
conviction  thereof,  be  punished  by  a  fine  not  exceeding  five  hundred 
dollars,  or  by  imprisonment  not  exceeding  two  years,  or  by  both 
of  said  punishments. 


No.   135.    Act  relating  to  Habeas  Corpus 

March  3,  1863 

APRIL  27,  1861,  Lincoln  by  executive  order  authorized  General  Scott,  in 
his  discretion,  to  suspend  the  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  on  any 
military  line  between  Philadelphia  and  Washington.  July  2  this  authoriza 
tion  was  extended  to  the  military  line  between  New  York  and  Washington. 
A  proclamation  of  May  10  authorized  suspension  in  the  islands  of  Key  West, 
the  Tortugas,  and  Santa  Rosa.  Doubt  as  to  the  legality  of  these  executive 
orders,  however,  reenforced  by  public  criticism  of  the  numerous  arrests  of 
civilians  in  pursuance  of  them,  led  to  the  issue,  February  14,  1862,  of  an  order 
directing  the  release  of  political  prisoners  held  in  military  custodv,  "on  their 
subscribing  to  a  parole  engaging  them  to  render  no  aid  or  comfort  to  the 
enemies  in  hostility  to  the  United  States" ;  but  a  proclamation  of  September 
24  declared  all  disloyal  persons  subject  to  martial  law,  and  suspended  the 
privilege  of  the  writ  as  to  such  persons.  An  act  of  August  6,  1861,  had  in  the 
meantime  validated  all  the  acts,  proclamations,  and  orders  of  the  President, 
relating  to  military  affairs,  issued  since  the  4th  of  March  preceding.  A  biU 


464  HABEAS   CORPUS  [March  3 

"to  indemnify  the  President  and  other  persons  for  suspending  the  privilege  of 
the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and  acts  done  in  pursuance  thereof,"  was  introduced 
in  the  House,  December  8,  1862,  by  Thaddeus  Stevens,  and  passed  the  same 
day,  notwithstanding  strong  opposition,  by  a  vote  of  91  to  46.  On  the  22d 
a  protest  against  the  bill,  signed  by  thirty-six  members  of  the  Hcuse,  was,  by  a 
vote  of  75  to  40,  refused  entry  on  the  journal.  The  bill  was  reported  with 
amendments  in  the  Senate  January  15,  1863,  and  passed  that  body  on  the 
27th,  after  long  discussion,  by  a  vote  of  33  to  7.  The  House,  by  a  vote  of  35 
to  114,  refused  to  agree  to  the  Senate  amendments,  and  the  bill  received  its 
final  form  from  a  conference  committee,  the  Senate  receding  from  its  amend 
ments  and  accepting  a  modified  form  of  the  House  bill.  A  proclamation  of 
September  15,  under  the  act,  declared  a  general  suspension  of  the  privilege 
of  the  writ  throughout  the  United  States;  this  was  revoked  as  to  the  loyal 
States  December  i,  1865.  An  amendatory  act  was  passed  May  n,  1866. 
An  act  of  March  2,  1867,  validated  all  acts,  proclamations,  and  orders  of  the 
President  respecting  martial  law,  &c.,  after  March  4,  1861,  and  before 
July  i,  1866. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XII.,  755-758.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  37th  Cong.,  3d  Sess.,  and 
the  Cong.  Globe.  The  Pendleton  protest  is  in  the  Globe,  December  22; 
the  Senate  amendments,  ibid.,  February  19,  House  proceedings.  Numerous 
orders,  reports,  letters,  etc.,  are  collected  in  McPherson,  Rebellion,  152-194; 
see  also  House  Exec.  Doc.  6,  37th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  and  Senate  Exec.  Doc.  n, 
37th  Cong.,  3d  Sess.  For  Taney's  opinion,  1861,  against  the  right  of  the 
President  to  suspend,  see  Ex  parte  Merryman,  Taney's  Reports,  246;  cf. 
Tyler,  Taney,  chap.  6.  The  opinion  of  Bates  affirming  the  right  is  in  House 
Exec.  Doc.  5,  37th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.  Cf.  Ex  parte  Milligan  (1866),  4  Wallace, 
2,  and  Garfield's  argument,  Works,  I.,  158;  Vallandigham's  Case,  i  Wallace, 
243.  On  Lincoln's  proclamation  of  September  24,  1862,  see  Curtis,  Constitu 
tional  History,  II.,  668-686.  The  act  of  indemnity  of  March  2,  1867,  is  in 
MacDonald's  Select  Statutes,  No.  58.  See  also  Thayer,  Cases  on  Constitu 
tional  Law,  2374,  2375;  reports  of  the  Provost  Marshal  General;  Whiting, 
War  Powers. 

An  Act  relating  to  Habeas  Corpus,  and  regulating  Judicial 
Proceedings  in  Certain  Cases. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That,  during  the  present  rebellion,  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  whenever,  in  his  judgment,  the 
public  safety  may  require  it,  is  authorized  to  suspend  the  privi 
lege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  in  any  case  throughout  the 
United  States,  or  any  part  thereof.  And  whenever  and  wher 
ever  the  said  privilege  shall  be  suspended,  as  aforesaid,  no  mili 
tary  or  other  officer  shall  be  compelled,  in  answer  to  any  writ 
of  habeas  corpus,  to  return  the  body  of  any  person  or  persons 


1863]  HABEAS    CORPUS  465 

detained  by  him  by  authority  of  the  President;  but  upon  the 
certificate,  under  oath,  of  the  officer  having  charge  of  any  one 
so  detained  that  such  person  is  detained  by  him  as  a  prisoner 
under  authority  of  the  President,  further  proceedings  under  the 
writ  of  habeas  corpus  shall  be  suspended  by  the  judge  or  court 
having  issued  the  said  writ,  so  long  as  said  suspension  by  the 
President  shall  remain  in  force,  and  said  rebellion  continue. 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  Secretary  of  State 
and  the  Secretary  of  War  be,  and  they  are  hereby,  directed,  as 
soon  as  may  be  practicable,  to  furnish  to  the  judges  of  the 
circuit  and  district  courts  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia  a  list  of  the  names  of  all  persons,  citizens  of 
states  in  which  the  administration  of  the  laws  has  continued 
unimpaired  in  the  said  Federal  courts,  wrho  are  now,  or  may 
hereafter  be,  held  as  prisoners  of  the  United  States,  by  order  or 
authority  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  or  either  of  said 
Secretaries,  in  any  fort,  arsenal,  or  other  place,  as  state  or  politi 
cal  prisoners,  or  otherwise  than  as  prisoners  of  war;  the  said 
list  to  contain  the  names  of  all  those  who  reside  in  the  respec 
tive  jurisdictions  of  said  judges,  or  who  may  be  deemed  by  the 
said  Secretaries,  or  either  of  them,  to  have  violated  any  law  of 
the  United  States  in  any  of  said  jurisdictions,  and  also  the  date 
of  each  arrest;  .  .  .  And  in  all  cases  where  a  grand  jury,  hav 
ing  attended  any  of  said  courts  having  jurisdiction  in  the  prem 
ises,  after  the  passage  of  this  act,  and  after  the  furnishing  of 
said  list,  as  aforesaid,  has  terminated  its  session  without  finding 
an  indictment  or  presentment,  or  other  proceeding  against  any 
such  person,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  judge  of  said  court  forth 
with  to  make  an  order  that  any  such  prisoner  desiring  a  dis 
charge  from  said  imprisonment  be  brought  before  him  to  be 
discharged;  and  every  officer  of  the  United  States  having  cus 
tody  of  such  prisoner  is  hereby  directed  immediately  to  obey  and 
execute  said  judge's  order;  and  in  case  he  shall  delay  or  refuse 
so  to  do,  he  shall  be  subject  to  indictment  for  a  misdemeanor, 
and  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  less  than  five  hundred  dollars 
and  imprisonment  in  the  common  jail  for  a  period  not  less  than 
six  months,  in  the  discretion  of  the  court;  Provided,  however, 
That  no  person  shall  be  discharged  by  virtue  of  the  provisions  of 
this  act  until  after  he  or  she  shall  have  taken  an  oath  of  allegiance 

2H 


466  HABEAS   CORPUS  [March  3 

to  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  and  to  support  the  Con 
stitution  thereof ;  and  that  he  or  she  will  not  hereafter  in  any  way 
encourage  or  give  aid  and  comfort  to  the  present  rebellion,  or  the 
supporters  thereof.  .  .  . 

SEC.  3.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  in  case  any  of  such 
prisoners  shall  be  under  indictment  or  presentment  for  any 
offence  against  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  and  by  existing 
laws  bail  or  a  recognizance  may  be  taken  for  the  appearance 
for  trial  of  such  person,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  said  judge  at 
once  to  discharge  such  person  upon  bail  or  recognizance  for 
trial  as  aforesaid.  And  in  case  the  said  Secretaries  of  State 
and  War  shall  for  any  reason  refuse  or  omit  to  furnish  the  said 
list  of  persons  held  as  prisoners  as  aforesaid  at  the  time  of  the 
passage  of  this  act  within  twenty  days  thereafter,  and  of  such 
persons  as  hereafter  may  be  arrested  within  twenty  days  from 
the  time  of  the  arrest,  any  citizen  may,  after  a  grand  jury  shall 
have  terminated  its  session  without  finding  an  indictment  or 
presentment,  as  provided  in  the  second  section  of  this  act,  by 
a  petition  alleging  the  facts  aforesaid  touching  any  of  the  per 
sons  so  as  aforesaid  imprisoned,  supported  by  the  oath  of  such 
petitioner  or  any  other  credible  person,  obtain  and  be  entitled 
to  have  the  said  judge's  order  to  discharge  such  prisoner  on  the 
same  terms  and  conditions  prescribed  in  the  second  section  of 
this  act:  Provided,  however,  That  the  said  judge  shall  be  satis 
fied  such  allegations  are  true. 

SEC.  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  any  order  of  the  Presi 
dent,  or  under  his  authority,  made  at  any  time  during  the  exist 
ence  of  the  present  rebellion,  shall  be  a  defence  in  all  courts  to 
any  action  or  prosecution,  civil  or  criminal,  pending,  or  to  be 
commenced,  for  any  search,  seizure,  arrest,  or  imprisonment, 
made,  done,  or  committed,  or  acts  omitted  to  be  done,  under 
and  by  virtue  of  such  order,  or  under  color  of  any  law  of  Con 
gress,  and  such  defence  may  be  made  by  special  plea,  or  under 

the  general  issue. 

******** 


1863]  FOREIGN   MEDIATION  467 

No.  136.     Resolution   against   Foreign 
Mediation 

March  3,  1863 

DECEMBER  4,  1862,  Thaddeus  Stevens  offered  in  the  House  four  resolu 
tions,  one  of  which  declared  "that  this  government  can  never  accept  the 
mediation  nor  permit  the  intervention  of  any  foreign  nation  during  this  re 
bellion  in  our  domestic  affairs."  A  report  from  the  Secretary  of  State,  with 
documents,  "on  the  subjects  of  mediation,  arbitration,  or  other  measures  look 
ing  to  the  termination  of  the  existing  civil  war,"  was  laid  before  the  Senate 
February  12, 1863,  and  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  which 
reported  on  the  28th,  through  Charles  Sumner,  the  resolution  following.  The 
resolution  passed  the  Senate  March  3,  by  a  vote  of  31  to  5,  and  the  House  on 
the  same  day  by  a  vote  of  103  to  28. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Senate  Journal,  3yth  Cong  ,  3d  Sess.,  367,  368. 
There  was  no  debate  in  the  House.  For  the  diplomatic  correspondence  see 
British  and  Foreign  State  Papers,  LV.,  412-451. 

WHEREAS  it  appears  from  the  diplomatic  correspondence  sub 
mitted  to  Congress  that  a  proposition,  friendly  in  form,  looking 
to  pacification  through  foreign  meditation,  has  been  made  to  the 
United  States  by  the  Emperor  of  the  French  and  promptly 
declined  by  the  President;  and  whereas  the  idea  of  mediation 
or  intervention  in  some  shape  may  be  regarded  by  foreign  gov 
ernments  as  practicable,  and  such  governments,  through  this 
misunderstanding,  may  be  led  to  proceedings  tending  to  embar 
rass  the  friendly  relations  which  now  exist  between  them  and 
the  United  States;  and  whereas,  in  order  to  remove  for  the 
future  all  chance  of  misunderstanding  on  this  subject,  and  to 
secure  for  the  United  States  the  full  enjoyment  of  that  freedom 
from  foreign  interference  which  is  one  of  the  highest  rights  of 
independent  states,  it  seems  fit  that  Congress  should  declare  its 
convictions  thereon :  Therefore  — 

Resolved,  (the  House  of  Representatives  concurring,)  That 
while  in  times  past  the  United  States  have  sought  and  accepted 
the  friendly  mediation  or  arbitration  of  foreign  powers  for  the 
pacific  adjustment  of  international  questions,  where  the  United 
States  were  the  party  of  the  one  part  and  some  other  sovereign 
power  the  party  of  the  other  part;  and  while  they  are  not  dis- 


468  FOREIGN   MEDIATION  [March  3 

posed  to  misconstrue  the  natural  and  humane  desire  of  foreign 
powers  to  aid  in  arresting  domestic  troubles,  which,  widening  in 
their  influence,  have  afflicted  other  countries,  especially  in  view 
of  the  circumstance,  deeply  regretted  by  the  American  people, 
that  the  blow  aimed  by  the  rebellion  at  the  national  life  has  fallen 
heavily  upon  the  laboring  population  of  Europe:  yet,  notwith 
standing  these  things,  Congress  cannot  hesitate  to  regard  every 
proposition  of  foreign  interference  in  the  present  contest  as  so 
far  unreasonable  and  inadmissible  that  its  only  explanation  will 
be  found  in  a  misunderstanding  of  the  true  state  of  the  question, 
and  of  the  real  character  of  the  war  in  which  the  republic  is 
engaged. 

Resolved,  That  the  United  States  are  now  grappling  with  an 
unprovoked  and  wicked  rebellion,  which  is  seeking  the  destruc 
tion  of  the  republic  that  it  may  build  a  new  powrer,  whose 
corner-stone,  according  to  the  confession  of  its  chief,  shall  be 
slavery;  that  for  the  suppression  of  this  rebellion,  and  thus  to 
save  the  republic  and  to  prevent  the  establishment  of  such  a 
power,  the  national  government  is  now  employing  armies  and 
fleets,  in  full  faith  that  through  these  efforts  all  the  purposes  of 
conspirators  and  rebels  will  be  crushed;  that  while  engaged  in 
this  struggle,  on  which  so  much  depends,  any  proposition  from 
a  foreign  power,  whatever  form  it  may  take,  having  for  its  object 
the  arrest  of  these  efforts,  is,  just  in  proportion  to  its  influence, 
an  encouragement  to  the  rebellion,  and  to  its  declared  preten 
sions,  and,  on  this  account,  is  calculated  to  prolong  and  embitter 
the  conflict,  to  cause  increased  expenditure  of  blood  and  treas 
ure,  and  to  postpone  the  much-desired  day  of  peace;  that,  with 
these  convictions,  and  not  doubting  that  every  such  proposition, 
although  made  with  good  intent,  is  injurious  to  the  national 
interests,  Congress  will  be  obliged  to  look  upon  any  further 
attempt  in  the  same  direction  as  an  unfriendly  act  which  it 
earnestly  deprecates,  to  the  end  that  nothing  may  occur  abroad 
to  strengthen  the  rebellion  or  to  weaken  those  relations  of  good 
will  with  foreign  powers  which  the  United  States  are  happy  to 
cultivate. 

Resolved,  That  the  rebellion  from  its  beginning,  and  far  back 
even  in  the  conspiracy  which  preceded  its  outbreak,  was  encour 
aged  by  the  hope  of  support  from  foreign  powers;  that  its  chiefs 


1863]  FOREIGN   MEDIATION  469 

frequently  boasted  that  the  people  of  Europe  were  so  far  de 
pendent  upon  regular  supplies  of  the  great  southern  staple  that, 
sooner  or  later,  their  governments  would  be  constrained  to  take 
side  with  the  rebellion  in  some  effective  form,  even  to  the  extent 
of  forcible  intervention,  if  the  milder  form  did  not  prevail;  that 
the  rebellion  is  now  sustained  by  this  hope,  which  every  propo 
sition  of  foreign  interference  quickens  anew,  and  that,  without 
this  life-giving  support,  it  must  soon  yield  to  the  just  and  paternal 
authority  of  the  national  government;  that,  considering  these 
things,  which  are  aggravated  by  the  motive  of  the  resistance 
thus  encouraged,  the  United  States  regret  that  foreign  powers 
have  not  frankly  told  the  chiefs  of  the  rebellion  that  the  work  in 
which  they  are  engaged  is  hateful,  and  that  a  new  government, 
such  as  they  seek  to  found,  with  slavery  as  its  acknowledged 
cornerstone,  and  with  no  other  declared  object  of  separate  exist 
ence,  is  so  far  shocking  to  civilization  and  the  moral  sense  of 
mankind  that  it  must  not  expect  welcome  or  recognition  in  the 
commonwealth  of  nations. 

Resolved,  That  the  United  States,  confident  in  the  justice  of 
their  cause,  which  is  the  cause,  also,  of  good  government  and  of 
human  rights  everywhere  among  men;  anxious  for  the  speedy 
restoration  of  peace,  which  shall  secure  tranquillity  at  home  and 
remove  all  occasion  of  complaint  abroad;  and  awaiting  with 
well-assured  trust  the  final  suppression  of  the  rebellion,  through 
which  all  these  things,  rescued  from  present  danger,  will  be 
secured  forever,  and  the  republic,  one  and  indivisible,  trium 
phant  over  its  enemies,  will  continue  to  stand  an  example  to 
mankind,  hereby  announce,  as  their  unalterable  purpose,  that  the 
war  will  be  vigorously  prosecuted,  according  to  the  humane 
principles  of  Christian  states,  until  the  rebellion  shall  be  over 
come;  and  they  reverently  invoke  upon  their  cause  the  bless 
ings  of  Almighty  God. 

Resolved,  That  the  President  be  requested  to  transmit  a  copy 
of  these  resolutions,  through  the  Secretary  of  State,  to  the  min 
isters  of  the  United  States  in  foreign  countries,  that  the  declara 
tion  and  protest  herein  set  forth  may  be  communicated  by  them 
to  the  governments  to  which  they  are  accredited. 


470  PROCLAMATION   OF  AMNESTY  [Dec.  8 


No.  137.     Proclamation  of  Amnesty 

December  8,  1863 

THE  proclamation  of  December  8,  1863,  offering  amnesty  on  conditions, 
was  issued  under  authority  of  the  so-called  Confiscation  Act  of  July  17,  1862 
[No.  132].  In  his  annual  message  of  the  same  date,  Lincoln  urged  the 
propriety  of  the  proclamation,  and  expressed  the  opinion  "that  nothing  is 
attempted  beyond  what  is  amply  justified  by  the  Constitution."  A  supple 
mentary  proclamation  of  March  26,  1864,  explained  that  the  previous  procla 
mation  did  not  apply  to  prisoners  of  war. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XIII.,  Appendix,  vii-ix. 
A  circular  to  United  States  district  attorneys  is  in  McPherson,  Rebellion,  148, 
149. 

[THE  proclamation  begins  with  a  statement  of  the  constitu 
tional  right  of  the  President  to  grant  pardons,  of  the  existence 
of  rebellion  in  certain  States,  of  the  authorization  of  pardon  by 
proclamation  under  the  Confiscation  Act,  and  of  the  previous 
issuance  of  proclamations  "in  regard  to  the  liberation  of  slaves," 
and  continues:]  and 

Whereas,  it  is  now  desired  by  some  persons  heretofore  en 
gaged  in  said  rebellion  to  resume  their  allegiance  to  the  United 
States,  and  to  reinaugurate  loyal  state  governments  within  and 
for  their  respective  states :  Therefore  — 

I,  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  President  of  the  United  States,  do  pro 
claim,  declare,  and  make  known  to  all  persons  who  have,  directly 
or  by  implication,  participated  in  the  existing  rebellion,  except 
as  hereinafter  excepted,  that  a  full  pardon  is  hereby  granted  to 
them  and  each  of  them,  with  restoration  of  all  rights  of  property, 
except  as  to  slaves,  and  in  property  cases  where  rights  of  third 
parties  shall  have  intervened,  and  upon  the  condition  that  every 
such  person  shall  take  and  subscribe  an  oath,  and  thenceforward 
keep  and  maintain  said  oath  inviolate;  and  which  oath  shall  be 
registered  for  permanent  preservation,  and  shall  be  of  the  tenor 
and  effect  following,  to  wit :  — 

"I, ,  do  solemnly  swear,  in  presence  of  Almighty 

God,  that  I  will  henceforth  faithfully  support,  protect,  and  de 
fend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  the  Union  of  the 
States  thereunder;  and  that  I  will,  in  like  manner,  abide  by  and 
faithfully  support  all  acts  of  congress  passed  during  the  existing 


1863]  PROCLAMATION   OF   AMNESTY  471 

rebellion  with  reference  to  slaves,  so  long  and  so  far  as  not  re 
pealed,  modified,  or  held  void  by  congress,  or  by  decision  of  the 
supreme  court;  and  that  I  will,  in  like  manner,  abide  by  and 
faithfully  support  all  proclamations  of  the  President  made  during 
the  existing  rebellion  having  reference  to  slaves,  so  long  and  so 
far  as  not  modified  or  declared  void  by  decision  of  the  supreme 
court.  So  help  me  God." 

The  persons  excepted  from  the  benefits  of  the  foregoing  pro 
visions  are  all  who  are,  or  shall  have  been,  civil  or  diplomatic 
officers  or  agents  of  the  so-called  Confederate  government;  all 
who  have  left  judicial  stations  under  the  United  States  to  aid 
the  rebellion;  all  who  are,  or  shall  have  been,  military  or  naval 
officers  of  said  so-called  Confederate  government  above  the  rank 
of  colonel  in  the  army  or  of  lieutenant  in  the  navy;  all  who  left 
seats  in  the  United  States  congress  to  aid  the  rebellion;  all  who 
resigned  commissions  in  the  army  or  navy  of  the  United  States 
and  afterwards  aided  the  rebellion;  and  all  who  have  engaged 
in  any  way  in  treating  colored  persons,  or  white  persons  in 
charge  of  such,  otherwise  than  lawfully  as  prisoners  of  war,  and 
which  persons  may  have  been  found  in  the  United  States  service 
as  soldiers,  seamen,  or  in  any  other  capacity. 

And  I  do  further  proclaim,  declare,  and  make  known  that 
whenever,  in  any  of  the  States  of  Arkansas,  Texas,  Louisiana, 
Mississippi,  Tennessee,  Alabama,  Georgia,  Florida,  South  Caro 
lina,  and  North  Carolina,1  a  number  of  persons,  not  less  than 
one  tenth  in  number  of  the  votes  cast  in  such  state  at  the  presi 
dential  election  ...  [of  1860]  .  .  .  ,  each  having  taken  the  oath 
aforesaid,  and  not  having  since  violated  it,  and  being  a  qualified 
voter  by  the  election  law  of  the  state  existing  immediately  before 
the  so-called  act  of  secession,  and  excluding  all  others,  shall  re 
establish  a  state  government  which  shall  be  republican,  and  in 
nowise  contravening  said  oath,  such  shall  be  recognized  as  the 
true  government  of  the  state,  and  the  state  shall  receive  there 
under  the  benefits  of  the  constitutional  provision  which  declares 
that  "the  United  States  shall  guaranty  to  every  state  in  this  Union 
a  republican  form  of  government,  and  shall  protect  each  of  them 

1  The  omission  of  Virginia  is  explained  by  the  fact  that  Lincoln  had  already 
recognized  the  so-called  Pierpont  government.  —  ED. 


472  PROCLAMATION    OF  AMNESTY  [Dec.  8 

against  invasion;  and  on  application  of  the  legislature,  or  the 
executive,  (when  the  legislature  cannot  be  convened,)  against 
domestic  violence." 

And  I  do  further  proclaim,  declare,  and  make  known  that  any 
provision  which  may  be  adopted  by  such  state  government  in 
relation  to  the  freed  people  of  such  state,  which  shall  recognize 
and  declare  their  permanent  freedom,  provide  for  their  educa 
tion,  and  which  may  yet  be  consistent  as  a  temporary  arrange 
ment  with  their  present  condition  as  a  laboring,  landless,  and 
homeless  class,  will  not  be  objected  to  by  the  National  Executive. 

And  it  is  suggested  as  not  improper  that,  in  constructing  a 
loyal  state  government  in  any  state,  the  name  of  the  state,  the 
boundary,  the  subdivisions,  the  constitution,  and  the  general 
code  of  laws,  as  before  the  rebellion,  be  maintained,  subject  only 
to  the  modifications  made  necessary  by  the  conditions  hereinbe 
fore  stated,  and  such  others,  if  any,  not  contravening  said  con 
ditions,  and  which  may  be  deemed  expedient  by  those  framing 
the  new  state  government. 

To  avoid  misunderstanding,  it  may.be  proper  to  say  that  this 
proclamation,  so  far  as  it  relates  to  state  governments,  has  no 
reference  to  states  wherein  loyal  state  governments  have  all  the 
while  been  maintained.  And,  for  the  same  reason,  it  may  be 
proper  to  further  say,  that  whether  members  sent  to  congress 
from  any  state  shall  be  admitted  to  seats  constitutionally  rests 
exclusively  with  the  respective  houses,  and  not  to  any  extent 
with  the  Executive.  And  still  further,  that  this  proclamation  is 
intended  to  present  the  people  of  the  states  wherein  the  national 
authority  has  been  suspended,  and  loyal  state  governments  have 
been  subverted,  a  mode  in  and  by  which  the  national  authority 
and  loyal  state  governments  may  be  reestablished  within  said 
states,  or  in  any  of  them;  and,  while  the  mode  presented  is  the 
best  the  Executive  can  suggest,  with  his  present  impressions, 
it  must  not  be  understood  that  no  other  possible  mode  would 
be  acceptable. 


1864]  NATIONAL   BANK  ACT  473 


No.   138.    National  Bank  Act 

June  3,  1864 

THE  beginning  of  the  present  national  bank  system  is  to  be  found  in  the 
act  "to  provide  a  national  currency,  secured  by  a  pledge  of  United  States 
stocks,  and  to  provide  for  the  circulation  and  redemption  thereof,"  approved 
February  25,  1863.  This  act,  however,  proved  defective,  and  the  comp 
troller  of  the  currency,  in  a  report  accompanying  the  annual  report  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  December  10,  1863,  made  numerous  suggestions 
for  amendment.  A  bill  with  the  same  title  as  the  existing  act  was  reported 
in  the  House,  March  14,  by  Hooper  of  Massachusetts,  from  the  Committee 
of  Ways  and  Means,  and  after  protracted  discussion  was  laid  on  the  table  by 
a  vote  of  90  to  44.  Another  bill  with  similar  title  was  introduced  by  Hooper 
April  n,  and  passed  the  House  on  the  i8th  by  a  vote  of  80  to  66.  A  bill  to 
the  same  effect  had  been  introduced  in  the  Senate,  April  8,  by  John  Sherman 
of  Ohio,  and  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Finance,  which,  on  the  2ist,  re 
ported  the  House  bill  with  amendments.  The  amended  bill  passed  the  Senate 
May  n,  by  a  vote  of  30  to  9.  The  House  disagreed  to  the  Senate  amend 
ments,  and  the  bill  received  its  final  form  from  a  conference  committee,  whose 
report  was  accepted  by  the  houses  June  i . 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XIII.,  99-118.  Only  the 
most  important  parts  of  the  act  are  given  below.  The  act  has  been  many 
times  amended ;  editions  showing  the  various  changes  are  issued  from  time  to 
time  by  the  comptroller  of  the  currency.  For  the  proceedings  see  the  House 
and  Senate  Journals,  38th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  and  the  Cong.  Globe,  where  will 
be  found  the  texts  of  all  the  important  amendments  proposed  or  adopted.  A 
comparison  of  Hooper's  first  bill  with  the  act  of  February  25  will  be  found  in 
the  Globe,  March  23. 

An  Act  to  provide  a  National  Currency,  secured  by  a  Pledge  oj 
United  States  Bonds,  and  to  provide  for  the  Circulation  and 
Redemption  thereof. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  there  shall  be  established  in  the 
treasury  department  a  separate  bureau,  which  shall  be  charged 
with  the  execution  of  this  and  all  other  laws  that  may  be  passed 
by  congress  respecting  the  issue  and  regulation  of  a  national 
currency  secured  by  United  States  bonds.  The  chief  officer  of 
the  said  bureau  shall  be  denominated  the  comptroller  of  the 
currency,  and  shall  be  under  the  general  direction  of  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury.  He  shall  be  appointed  by  the  President, 
on  the  recommendation  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  by 
and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  and  shall  hold 


474  NATIONAL   BANK   ACT  [June  3 

his  office  for  the  term  of  five  years  unless  sooner  removed  by 
the  President,  upon  reasons  to  be  communicated  by  him  to  the 
Senate.  .  .  .  The  comptroller  and  deputy-comptroller  shall  not, 
either  directly  or  indirectly,  be  interested  in  any  association  issuing 
national  currency  under  the  provisions  of  this  act. 

******** 

SEC.  50  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  associations  for  carry 
ing  on  the  business  of  banking  may  be  formed  by  any  number 
of  persons,  not  less  in  any  case  than  five,  who  shall  enter  into 
articles  of  association,  which  shall  specify  in  general  terms  the 
object  for  which  the  association  is  formed,  and  may  contain  any 
other  provisions,  not  inconsistent  with  the  provisions  of  this  act, 
which  the  association  may  see  fit  to  adopt  for  the  regulation  of 
the  business  of  the  association  and  the  conduct  of  its  affairs, 
which  said  articles  shall  be  signed  by  the  persons  uniting  to 
form  the  association,  and  a  copy  of  them  forwarded  to  the 
comptroller  of  the  currency,  to  be  filed  and  preserved  in  his 

office. 

******** 

SEC.  7.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  no  association  shall 
be  organized  under  this  act,  with  a  less  capital  than  one  hun 
dred  thousand  dollars,  nor  in  a  city  whose  population  exceeds 
fifty  thousand  persons,  with  a  less  capital  than  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars:  Provided,  That  banks  with  a  capital  of  not 
less  than  fifty  thousand  dollars  may,  with  the  approval  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  be  organized  in  any  place  the  popu 
lation  of  which  does  not  exceed  six  thousand  inhabitants.1 

SEC.  8.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  every  association  formed 
pursuant  to  the  provisions  of  this  act  shall  from  the  date  of  the 
execution  of  its  organization  certificate,  be  a  body  corporate,  but 
shall  transact  no  business  except  such  as  may  be  incidental  to  its 
organization  and  necessarily  preliminary,  until  authorized  by  the 
comptroller  of  the  currency  to  commence  the  business  of  banking. 
Such  association  shall  have  power  to  adopt  a  corporate  seal, 
and  shall  have  succession  by  the  name  designated  in  its  organi 
zation  certificate,  for  the  period  of  twenty  years  from  its  organi 
zation,  unless  sooner  dissolved  according  to  the  provisions  of  its 
articles  of  association,  or  by  the  act  of  its  shareholders  owning  two 
1  See  act  of  March  14,  1900,  section  10.  —  ED. 


1864]  NATIONAL   BANK  ACT  475 

thirds  of  its  stock,  or  unless  the  franchise  shall  be  forfeited  by  a 
violation  of  this  act;  by  such  name  it  may  make  contracts  .  .  . 
[  &c.]  .  .  .  ,  and  exercise  under  this  act  all  such  incidental  powers 
as  shall  be  necessary  to  carry  on  the  business  of  banking  by  dis 
counting  and  negotiating  promissory  notes,  drafts,  bills  of  exchange, 
and  other  evidences  of  debt;  by  receiving  deposits;  by  buying 
and  selling  exchange,  coin,  and  bullion;  by  loaning  money  on 
personal  security;  by  obtaining,  issuing,  and  circulating  notes 
according  to  the  provisions  of  this  act  .  .  . 

SEC.  9.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  affairs  of  every 
association  shall  be  managed  by  not  less  than  five  directors,  one 
of  whom  shall  be  the  president.  Every  director  shall,  during 
his  whole  term  of  service,  be  a  citizen  of  the  United  States;  and 
at  least  three  fourths  of  the  directors  shall  have  resided  in  the 
state,  territory,  or  district  in  which  such  association  is  located 
one  year  next  preceding  their  election  as  directors,  and  be  resi 
dents  of  the  same  during  their  continuance  in  office.  Each 
director  shall  own,  in  his  own  right,  at  least  ten  shares  of  the 
capital  stock  of  the  association  of  which  he  is  a  director.  .  .  . 
******** 

SEC.  ii.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  in  all  elections  of 
directors,  and  in  deciding  all  questions  at  meetings  of  share 
holders,  each  shareholder  shall  be  entitled  to  one  vote  on  each 
share  of  stock  held  by  him.  .  .  . 

SEC.  12.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  capital  stock  of 
any  association  formed  under  this  act  shall  be  divided  into  shares 
of  one  hundred  dollars  each,  and  be  deemed  personal  property 
and  transferable  on  the  books  of  the  association  in  such  manner 
as  may  be  prescribed  in  the  by-laws  or  articles  of  association.  .  .  . 
The  shareholders  of  each  association  formed  under  the  provisions 
of  this  act,  and  of  each  existing  bank  or  banking  association  that 
may  accept  the  provisions  of  this  act,  shall  be  held  individually 
responsible,  equally  and  ratably,  and  not  one  for  another,  for  all 
contracts,  debts,  and  engagements  of  such  association  to  the  extent 
of  the  amount  of  their  stock  therein  at  the  par  value  thereof,  in 
addition  to  the  amount  invested  in  such  shares ;  except  that  share 
holders  of  any  banking  association  now  existing  under  state  laws, 
having  not  less  than  five  millions  of  dollars  of  capital  actually  paid 
in,  and  a  surplus  of  twenty  per  centum  on  hand,  both  to  be  deter- 


476  NATIONAL   BANK   ACT  [June  3 

mined  by  the  comptroller  of  the  currency,  shall  be  liable  only  to 
the  amount  invested  in  their  shares  l.  .  . 

******** 

SEC.  14.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  at  least  fifty  per 
centum  of  the  capital  stock  of  every  association  shall  be  paid  in 
before  it  shall  be  authorized  to  commence  business;  and  the  re 
mainder  of  the  capital  stock  of  such  association  shall  be  paid 
in  instalments  of  at  least  ten  per  centum  each  on  the  whole  amount 
of  the  capital  as  frequently  as  one  instalment  at  the  end  of  each 
succeeding  month  from  the  time  it  shall  be  authorized  by  the 
comptroller  to  commence  business.  .  .  . 

******** 

SEC.  16.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  every  association, 
after  having  complied  with  the  provisions  of  this  act,  prelimi 
nary  to  the  commencement  of  banking  business  under  its  pro 
visions,  and  before  it  shall  be  authorized  to  commence  business, 
shall  transfer  and  deliver  to  the  treasurer  of  the  United  States 
any  United  States  registered  bonds  bearing  interest  to  an  amount 
not  less  than  thirty  thousand  dollars  nor  less  than  one  third  of  the 
capital  stock  paid  in,  which  bonds  shall  be  deposited  with  the 
treasurer  of  the  United  States  and  by  him  safely  kept  in  his  office 
until  the  same  shall  be  otherwise  disposed  of,  in  pursuance  of  the 
provisions  of  this  act ;  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is  hereby 
authorized  to  receive  and  cancel  any  United  States  coupon  bonds, 
and  to  issue  in  lieu  thereof  registered  bonds  of  like  amount,  bearing 
a  like  rate  of  interest,  and  having  the  same  time  to  run ;  and  the 
deposit  of  bonds  shall  be,  by  every  association,  increased  as  its 
capital  may  be  paid  up  or  increased,  so  that  every  association  shall 
at  all  times  have  on  deposit  with  the  treasurer  registered  United 
States  bonds  to  the  amount  of  at  least  one  third  of  its  capital  stock 

actually  paid  in.  ... 

******** 

SEC.  21.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  upon  the  transfer 
and  delivery  of  bonds  to  the  treasurer,  as  provided  in  the  fore 
going  section,  the  association  making  the  same  shall  be  entitled 
to  receive  from  the  comptroller  of  the  currency  circulating  notes 
of  different  denominations,  in  blank,  registered  and  counter- 

1  This  exception  was  designed  to  include  the  Bank  of  Commerce  of  New  York. 
-ED. 


1864]  NATIONAL   BANK   ACT  477 

signed  as  hereinafter  provided,  equal  in  amount  to  ninety  per 
centum  of  the  current  market  value  of  the  United  States  bonds 
so  transferred  and  delivered,  but  not  exceeding  ninety  per  cen 
tum  of  the  amount  of  said  bonds  at  the  par  value  thereof,  if  bearing 
interest  at  a  rate  not  less  than  five  per  centum  per  annum; 1  and 
at  no  time  shall  the  total  amount  of  such  notes,  issued  to  any  such 
association,  exceed  the  amount  at  such  time  actually  paid  in  of  its 
capital  stock. 

SEC.  22.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  entire  amount  of 
notes  for  circulation  to  be  issued  under  this  act  shall  not  exceed 
three  hundred  millions  of  dollars.  .  .  . 

SEC.  23.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  after  any  such  asso 
ciation  shall  have  caused  its  promise  to  pay  such  notes  on  demand 
to  be  signed  by  the  president  or  vice-president  and  cashier  thereof, 
in  such  manner  as  to  make  them  obligatory  promissory  notes, 
payable  on  demand,  at  its  place  of  business,  such  association  is 
hereby  authorized  to  issue  and  circulate  the  same  as  money;  and 
the  same  shall  be  received  at  par  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States 
in  payment  of  taxes,  excises,  public  lands,  and  all  other  dues  to  the 
United  States,  except  for  duties  on  imports ;  and  also  for  all  salaries 
and  other  debts  and  demands  owing  by  the  United  States  to  in 
dividuals,  corporations,  and  associations  within  the  United  States, 
except  interest  on  the  public  debt,  and  in  redemption  of  the  national 
currency.  And  no  such  association  shall  issue  post  notes  or  any 
other  notes  to  circulate  as  money  than  such  as  are  authorized  by  the 
foregoing  provisions  of  this  act.2 

*******  v 

SEC.  26.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  bonds  transferred 
to  and  deposited  with  the  treasurer  of  the  United  States,  as  here 
inbefore  provided,  by  any  banking  association  for  the  security 
of  its  circulating  notes,  shall  be  held  exclusively  for  that  purpose, 
until  such  notes  shall  be  redeemed,  except  as  provided  in  this 
act;  but  the  comptroller  of  the  currency  shall  give  to  any  such 
banking  association  powers  of  attorney  to  receive  and  appropriate 
to  its  own  use  the  interest  on  the  bonds  which  it  shall  have  so  trans- 

1  See  act  of  March  3,  1865  (U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  XIII.,  498),  relative  to  the 
allotment  of  circulation.  —  ED. 

•*  As  to  State  taxation  of  national  bank  currency  and  United  States  notes,  see 
act  of  August  13,  1894  (U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  XXVIIL,  278).  —  ED. 


478  NATIONAL   BANK  ACT  [June  3 

ferred  to  the  treasurer;  but  such  powers  shall  become  inoperative 
whenever  such  banking  association  shall  fail  to  redeem  its  circulat 
ing  notes  as  aforesaid.  Whenever  the  market  or  cash  value  of 
any  bonds  deposited  with  the  treasurer  of  the  United  States,  as 
aforesaid,  shall  be  reduced  below  the  amount  of  the  circulation 
issued  for  the  same,  the  comptroller  of  the  currency  is  hereby 
authorized  to  demand  and  receive  the  amount  of  such  deprecia 
tion  in  other  United  States  bonds  at  cash  value,  or  in  money,  from 
the  association  receiving  said  bills,  to  be  deposited  with  the  treasurer 

of  the  United  States  as  long  as  such  depreciation  continues.  .  .  . 
******** 

SEC.  29.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  total  liabilities  to 
any  association,  of  any  person,  or  of  any  company,  corporation, 
or  firm  for  money  borrowed,  including  in  the  liabilities  of  a  com 
pany  or  firm  the  liabilities  of  the  several  members  thereof,  shall 
at  no  time  exceed  one  tenth  part  of  the  amount  of  the  capital 
stock  of  such  association  actually  paid  in:  Provided,  That  the 
discount  of  bona  fide  bills  of  exchange  drawn  against  actually 
existing  values,  and  the  discount  of  commercial  or  business  paper 
actually  owned  by  the  person  or  persons,  corporation,  or  firm 
negotiating  the  same  shall  not  be  considered  as  money  borrowed. 

SEC.  30.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  every  association 
may  take,  receive,  reserve,  and  charge  on  any  loan  or  discount 
made,  or  upon  any  note,  bill  of  exchange,  or  other  evidences  of 
debt,  interest  at  the  rate  allowed  by  the  laws  of  the  state  or  ter 
ritory  where  the  bank  is  located,  and  no  more.  .  .  .  And  when  no 
rate  is  fixed  by  the  laws  of  the  state  or  territory,  the  bank  may  take, 
receive,  reserve,  or  charge  a  rate  not  exceeding  seven  per  cen 
tum.  .  .  . 

SEC.  31.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  every  association  in 
the  cities  hereinafter  named  shall,  at  all  times,  have  on  hand,  in 
lawful  money  of  the  United  States,  an  amount  equal  to  at  least 
twenty-five  per  centum  of  the  aggregate  amount  of  its  notes  in 
circulation  and  its  deposits;  and  every  other  association  shall, 
at  all  times,  have  on  hand,  in  lawful  money  of  the  United  States, 
an  amount  equal  to  at  least  fifteen  per  centum  of  the  aggregate 
amount  of  its  notes  in  circulation,  and  of  its  deposits.  And 
whenever  the  lawful  money  of  any  association  in  any  of  the  cities 
hereinafter  named  shall  be  below  the  amount  of  twenty-five  per 


1864]  NATIONAL   BANK  ACT  479 

centum  of  its  circulation  and  deposits,  and  whenever  the  lawful 
money  of  any  other  association  shall  be  below  fifteen  per  centum 
of  its  circulation  and  deposits,  such  association  shall  not  increase 
its  liabilities  by  making  any  new  loans  or  discounts  otherwise 
than  by  discounting  or  purchasing  bills  of  exchange  payable  at 
sight,  nor  make  any  dividend  of  its  profits  until  the  required  pro 
portion  between  the  aggregate  amount  of  its  outstanding  notes  of 
circulation  and  deposits  and  its  lawful  money  of  the  United  States 
shall  be  restored:  Provided,  That  three  fifths  of  said  fifteen  per 
centum  may  consist  of  balances  due  to  an  association  available 
for  the  redemption  of  its  circulating  notes  from  associations 
approved  by  the  comptroller  of  the  currency,  organized  under 
this  act,  in  the  cities  of  Saint  Louis,  Louisville,  Chicago,  Detroit, 
Milwaukee,  New  Orleans,  Cincinnati,  Cleveland,  Pittsburg, 
Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  Boston,  New  York,  Albany,  Leaven- 
worth,  San  Francisco,  and  Washington  City: l  Provided,  also,  That 
clearing-house  certificates,  representing  specie  or  lawful  money 
specially  deposited  for  the  purpose  of  any  clearing-house  associa 
tion,  shall  be  deemed  to  be  lawful  money  in  the  possession  of  any 
association  belonging  to  such  clearing-house  holding  and  owning 
such  certificate,  and  shall  be  considered  to  be  a  part  of  the  lawful 
money  which  such  association  is  required  to  have  under  the  fore 
going  provisions  of  this  section :  Provided,  That  the  cities  of  Charles 
ton  and  Richmond  may  be  added  to  the  list  of  cities  in  the  national 
associations  of  which  other  associations  may  keep  three  fifths  of 
their  lawful  money,  whenever,  in  the  opinion  of  the  comptroller  of 
the  currency,  the  condition  of  the  southern  states  will  warrant  it. 
And  it  shall  be  competent  for  the  comptroller  of  the  currency  to 
notify  any  association,  whose  lawful  money  reserve  as  aforesaid 
shall  be  below  the  amount  to  be  kept  on  hand  as  aforesaid,  to 
make  good  such  reserve;  and  if  such  association  shall  fail  for 
thirty  days  thereafter  so  to  make  good  its  reserve  of  lawful  money 
of  the  United  States,  the  comptroller  may,  with  the  concurrence 
of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  appoint  a  receiver  to  wind  up  the 
business  of  such  association,  as  provided  in  this  act. 

SEC.   32.     And  be  it  further  enacted,   That  each  association 
organized  in  any  of  the  cities  named  in  the  foregoing  section 

1  See  act  of  March  3,  1887,  chap.  378  (U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  XXIV..  559,  560). 
—  ED. 


480  NATIONAL   BANK   ACT  [June  3 

shall  select,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  comptroller  of  the 
currency,  an  association  in  the  city  of  New  York,  at  which  it 
will  redeem  its  circulating  notes  at  par.  And  each  of  such  as 
sociations  may  keep  one  half  of  its  lawful  money  reserve  in  cash 
deposits  in  the  city  of  New  York.  And  each  association  not 
organized  within  the  cities  named  in  the  preceding  section  shall 
select,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  comptroller  of  the  currency, 
an  association  in  either  of  the  cities  named  in  the  preceding  section 
at  which  it  will  redeem  its  circulating  notes  at  par.  .  .  .  [Provided] 
.  .  .  ,  That  every  association  formed  or  existing  under  the  pro 
visions  of  this  act  shall  take  and  receive  at  par,  for  any  debt  or 
liability  to  said  association,  any  and  all  notes  or  bills  issued  by 
any  association  existing  under  and  by  virtue  of  this  act. 

******** 

SEC.  36.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  no  association  shall 
at  any  time  be  indebted,  or  in  any  way  liable,  to  an  amount  ex 
ceeding  the  amount  of  its  capital  stock  at  such  time  actually 
paid  in  and  remaining  undiminished  by  losses  or  otherwise,  except 
on  the  following  accounts,  that  is  to  say :  — 

First.     On  account  of  its  notes  of  circulation. 

Second.  On  account  of  moneys  deposited  with,  or  collected 
by,  such  association. 

Third.  On  account  of  bills  of  exchange  or  drafts  drawn 
against  money  actually  on  deposit  to  the  credit  of  such  associa 
tion,  or  due  thereto. 

Fourth.  On  account  of  liabilities  to  its  stockholders  for  divi 
dends  and  reserved  profits. 

******** 

SEC.  38.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  no  association,  or  any 
member  thereof,  shall,  during  the  time  it  shall  continue  its  bank 
ing  operations,  withdraw,  or  permit  to  be  withdrawn,  either  in 
form  of  dividends  or  otherwise,  any  portion  of  its  capital.  And 
if  losses  shall  at  any  time  have  been  sustained  by  any  such  asso 
ciation  equal  to  or  exceeding  its  undivided  profits  then  on  hand, 
no  dividend  shall  be  made;  and  no  dividend  shall  ever  be  made 
by  any  association,  while  it  shall  continue  its  banking  operations, 
to  an  amount  greater  than  its  net  profits  then  on  hand,  deduct 
ing  therefrom  its  losses  and  bad  debts.  .  .  . 

******** 


iS64]  NATIONAL   BANK   ACT  481 

SEC.  41.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  plates  and  special 
dies  to  be  procured  by  the  comptroller  of  the  currency  for  the 
printing  of  such  circulating  notes  shall  remain  under  his  control 
and  direction,  and  the  expenses  necessarily  incurred  in  execut 
ing  the  provisions  of  this  act  respecting  the  procuring  of  such 
notes,  and  all  other  expenses  of  the  bureau,  shall  be  paid  out  of 
the  proceeds  of  the  taxes  or  duties  now  or  hereafter  to  be  assessed 
on  the  circulation,  and  collected  from  associations  organized 
under  this  act.  And  in  lieu  of  all  existing  taxes,  every  asso 
ciation  shall  pay  to  the  treasurer  of  the  United  States,  in  the 
months  of  January  and  July,  a  duty  of  one  half  of  one  per  centum 
each  half  year  from  and  after  .  .  .  [January  i,  1864]  .  .  .  , 
upon  the  average  amount  of  its  notes  in  circulation,  and  a  duty  of 
one  quarter  of  one  per  centum  each  half  year  upon  the  average 
amount  of  its  deposits,  and  a  duty  of  one  quarter  of  one  per  centum 
each  half  year,  as  aforesaid,  on  the  average  amount  of  its  capital 
stock  beyond  the  amount  invested  in  United  States  bonds;  .  .  . 
Provided  .  .  .  ,  That  nothing  in  this  act  shall  exempt  the  real  es 
tate  of  associations  from  either  state,  county,  or  municipal  taxes  to 
the  same  extent,  according  to  its  value,  as  other  real  estate  is  taxed. 
******** 

SEC.  44.  And  be  it  further  enacted I,  That  any  bank  incorporated 
by  special  law,  or  any  banking  institution  organized  under  a  gen 
eral  law  of  any  state,  may,  by  authority  of  this  act,  become  a 
national  association  under  its  provisions,  by  the  name  prescribed 
in  its  organization  certificate.  .  .  .  Provided,  however,  That  no 
such  association  shall  have  a  less  capital  than  the  amount  pre 
scribed  for  banking  associations  under  this  act.1 

SEC.  45.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  all  associations  under 
this  act,  when  designated  for  that  purpose  by  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  shall  be  depositaries  of  public  money,  except  re 
ceipts  from  customs,  under  such  regulations  as  may  be  prescribed 
by  the  Secretary;  and  they  may  also  be  employed  as  financial 
agents  of  the  government ;  and  they  shall  perform  all  such  reason 
able  duties,  as  depositaries  of  public  moneys  and  financial  agents 
of  the  government,  as  may  be  required  of  them.  And  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  shall  require  of  the  associations  thus  designated 

1  See  act  of  February  14,  1880  (U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  XXI.,  661).  —  ED. 
2  I 


482    PROCLAMATION  REGARDING  RECONSTRUCTION    [July  & 

satisfactory  security,  by  the  deposit  of  United  States  bonds  and 
otherwise,  for  the  safe-keeping  and  prompt  payment  of  the  public 
money  deposited  with  them,  and  for  the  faithful  performance 
of  their  duties  as  financial  agents  of  the  government :  Provided, 
That  every  association  which  shall  be  selected  and  designated  as 
receiver  or  depositary  of  the  public  money  shall  take  and  receive 
at  par  all  of  the  national  currency  bills,  by  whatever  association 
issued,  which  have  been  paid  in  to  the  government  for  internal 
revenue,  or  for  loans  or  stocks. 

******** 


No.   139.     Proclamation  regarding  Recon 
struction 

July  8,  1864 

DECEMBER  15,  1863,  on  motion  of  Henry  Winter  Davis  of  Maryland,  so 
much  of  Lincoln's  message  of  December  8  as  related  "to  the  duty  of  the 
United  States  to  guaranty  a  republican  form  of  government  to  the  States 
in  which  the  governments  recognized  by  the  United  States  have  been  abro 
gated  or  overthrown"  was  referred,  by  a  vote  of  91  to  80,  to  a  select  com 
mittee  of  the  House,  with  instructions  to  report  bills  to  carry  into  execution 
the  said  guarantee.  A  bill  was  reported  by  the  committee  February  15,  1864, 
and  passed  the  House  May  4  by  a  vote  of  74  to  66.  July  i  the  Senate,  by  a 
vote  of  30  to  13,  adopted  a  substitute,  proposed  by  B.  Gratz  Brown  of  Mis 
souri,  declaring  that  when  the  inhabitants  of  any  State  had  been  declared  in 
insurrection  by  proclamation  under  the  act  of  July  13,  1861,  they  should  be 
"  incapable  of  casting  any  vote  for  electors  of  President  or  Vice  President  of 
the  United  States,  or  of  electing  Senators  and  Representatives  in  Congress, 
until  said  insurrection  in  said  State  is  suppressed  or  abandoned  and  said  in 
habitants  have  returned  to  their  obedience  to  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  nor  until  such  return  to  obedience  shall  be  declared  by  proclamation 
of  the  President,  issued  by  virtue  of  an  act  of  Congress,  hereafter  to  be 
passed,  authorizing  the  same."  The  House  refused  to  concur,  and  July  2 
the  Senate,  by  a  vote  of  18  to  14,  receded,  and  the  House  bill  passed.  Lin 
coln  was  opposed  to  the  bill  and  withheld  his  approval,  but  immediately  upon 
the  adjournment  of  Congress  issued  the  following  proclamation  with  the  bill 
attached.  The  bill  was  the  first  formal  plan  of  reconstruction  agreed  upon 
by  Congress. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XIII.,  Appendix,  xiv-xvii. 
For  the  proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  38th  Cong.,  ist  Sess., 
and  the  Cong.  Globe. 


1864]     PROCLAMATION  REGARDING  RECONSTRUCTION     483 

(The  proclamation  recites  the  passage  of  the  bill  annexed,  and  its  presenta 
tion  to  the  President  "less  than  one  hour  before  the  sine  die  adjournment  of 
said  session,"  and  continues:) 

And  whereas  the  said  bill  contains,  among  other  things,  a  plan 
for  restoring  the  states  in  rebellion  to  their  proper  practical  relation 
in  the  Union,  which  plan  expresses  the  sense  of  congress  upon  that 
subject,  and  which  plan  it  is  now  thought  fit  to  lay  before  the 
people  for  their  consideration : 

Now,  therefore,  I,  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  President  of  the  United 
States,  do  proclaim,  declare,  and  make  known,  that,  while  I  am 
(as  I  was  in  December  last,  when  by  proclamation  I  propounded 
a  plan  for  restoration)  unprepared  by  a  formal  approval  of  this 
bill,  to  be  inflexibly  committed  to  any  single  plan  of  restoration; 
and,  while  I  am  also  unprepared  to  declare  that  the  free  state 
constitutions  and  governments  already  adopted  and  installed  in 
Arkansas  and  Louisiana  shall  be  set  aside  and  held  for  nought, 
thereby  repelling  and  discouraging  the  loyal  citizens  who  have 
set  up  the  same  as  to  further  effort,  or  to  declare  a  constitutional 
competency  in  congress  to  abolish  slavery  in  states,  but  am  at 
the  same  time  sincerely  hoping  and  expecting  that  a  constitu 
tional  amendment  abolishing  slavery  throughout  the  nation  may 
be  adopted,  nevertheless  I  am  fully  satisfied  with  the  system  for 
restoration  contained  in  the  bill  as  one  very  proper  plan  for  the 
loyal  people  of  any  state  choosing  to  adopt  it,  and  that  I  am,  and 
at  all  times  shall  be,  prepared  to  give  the  executive  aid  and  as 
sistance  to  any  such  people,  so  soon  as  the  military  resistance  to 
the  United  States  shall  have  been  suppressed  in  any  such  state, 
and  the  people  thereof  shall  have  sufficiently  returned  to  their 
obedience  to  the  constitution  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States, 
in  which  cases  military  governors  will  be  appointed,  with  directions 
to  proceed  according  to  the  bill. 


A  Bill  to  guarantee  to  certain  States  whose  Governments  have  been  usurped  or 
overthrown  a  Republican  Form  of  Government. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .,  That  in  the  states  declared  in  rebellion  against  the 
United  States,  the  President  shall,  by  and  with  the  advice  and 'consent  of  the 
Senate,  appoint  for  each  a  provisional  governor,  .  .  .  who  shall  be  charged 
with  the  civil  administration  of  such  state  until  a  state  government  therein 
shall  be  recognized  as  hereinafter  provided. 


484    PROCLAMATION  REGARDING  RECONSTRUCTION    (July  8 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  so  soon  as  the  military  resistance  to 
the  United  States  shall  have  been  suppressed  in  any  such  state,  and  the  people 
thereof  shall  have  sufficiently  returned  to  their  obedience  to  the  constitution 
and  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  the  provisional  governor  shall  direct  the 
marshal  of  the  United  States,  as  speedily  as  may  be,  to  name  a  sufficient 
number  of  deputies,  and  to  enroll  all  white  male  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
resident  in  the  state  in  their  respective  counties,  and  to  request  each  one  to 
take  the  oath  to  support  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  in  his 
enrolment  to  designate  those  who  take  and  those  who  refuse  to  take  that 
oath,  which  rolls  shall  be  forthwith  returned  to  the  provisional  governor;  and 
if  the  persons  taking  that  oath  shall  amount  to  a  majority  of  the  persons 
enrolled  in  the  state,  he  shall,  by  proclamation,  invite  the  loyal  people  of  the 
state  to  elect  delegates  to  a  convention  charged  to  declare  the  will  of  the 
people  of  the  state  relative  to  the  reestablishment  of  a  state  government  sub 
ject  to,  and  in  conformity  with,  the  constitution  of  the  United  States. 

SEC.  3.  And  be  it  further  enacted.  That  the  convention  shall  consist  of  as 
many  members  as  both  houses  of  the  last  constitutional  state  legislature,  ap 
portioned  by  the  provisional  governor  among  the  counties,  parishes,  or  dis 
tricts  of  the  state,  in  proportion  to  the  white  population,  returned  as  electors, 
by  the  marshal,  in  compliance  with  the  provisions  of  this  act.  The  provi 
sional  governor  shall,  by  proclamation,  declare  the  number  of  delegates  to 
be  elected  by  each  county,  parish,  or  election  district;  name  a  day  of  election 
not  less  than  thirty  days  thereafter;  designate  the  places  of  voting  in  each 
county,  parish,  or  district,  conforming  as  nearly  as  may  be  convenient  to  the 
places  used  in  the  state  elections  next  preceding  the  rebellion;  appoint  one 
or  more  commissioners  to  hold  the  election  at  each  place  of  voting,  and  pro 
vide  an  adequate  force  to  keep  the  peace  during  the  election. 

SEC.  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  delegates  shall  be  elected  by 
the  loyal  white  male  citizens  of  the  United  States  of  the  age  of  twenty-one 
years,  and  resident  at  the  time  in  the  county,  parish,  or  district  in  which  they 
shall  offer  to  vote,  and  enrolled  as  aforesaid,  or  absent  in  the  military  service 
of  the  United  States,  and  who  shall  take  and  subscribe  the  oath  of  allegiance 
to  the  United  States  in  the  form  contained  in  the  act  of  ...  [July  2,  1862] 
.  .  .  ;  and  all  such  citizens  of  the  United  States  who  are  in  the  military  ser 
vice  of  the  United  States  shall  vote  at  the  headquarters  of  their  respective 
commands,  under  such  regulations  as  may  be  prescribed  by  the  provisional 
governor  for  the  taking  and  return  of  their  votes;  but  no  person  who  has 
held  or  exercised  any  office,  civil  or  military,  state  or  confederate,  under  the 
rebel  usurpation,  or  who  has  voluntarily  borne  arms  against  the  United 
States,  shall  vote,  or  be  eligible  to  be  elected  as  delegate,  at  such 
election. 

SEC.  5.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  said  commissioners,  or  either  of 
them,  shall  hold  the  election  in  conformity  with  this  act  and,  so  far  as  may  be 
consistent  therewith,  shall  proceed  in  the  manner  used  in  the  state  prior  to  the 
rebellion.  The  oath  of  allegiance  shall  be  taken  and  subscribed  on  the  poll- 
book  by  every  voter  in  the  form  above  prescribed,  but  every  person  known 
by,  or  proved  to,  the  commissioners  to  have  held  or  exercised  any  office,  civil 
or  military,  state  or  confederate,  under  the  rebel  usurpation,  or  to  have 


1864]     PROCLAMATION  REGARDING  RECONSTRUCTION     485 

voluntarily  borne  arms  against  the  United  States,  shall  be  excluded,  though 
he  offer  to  take  the  oath;  and  in  case  any  person  who  shall  have  borne  arms 
against  the  United  States  shall  offer  to  vote  he  shall  be  deemed  to  have  borne 
arms  voluntarily  unless  he  shall  prove  the  contrary  by  the  testimony  of  a 
qualified  voter.  The  poll-book,  showing  the  name  and  oath  of  each  voter, 
shall  be  returned  to  the  provisional  governs  by  the  commissioners  of  election 
or  the  one  acting,  and  the  provisional  governor  shall  canvass  such  returns, 
and  declare  the  person  having  the  highest  number  of  votes  elected. 

SEC.  6.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  provisional  governor  shall,  by 
proclamation,  convene  the  delegates  elected  as  aforesaid,  at  the  capital  of  the 
state,  on  a  day  not  more  than  three  months  after  the  election,  giving  at  least 
thirty  days'  notice  of  such  day.  In  case  the  said  capital  shall  in  his  judgment 
be  unfit,  he  shall  in  his  proclamation  appoint  another  place.  He  shall  preside 
over  the  deliberations  of  the  convention,  and  administer  to  each  delegate, 
before  taking  his  seat  in  the  convention,  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United 
States  in  the  form  above  prescribed. 

SEC.  7.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  convention  shall  declare,  on 
behalf  of  the  people  of  the  state,  their  submission  to  the  constitution  and  laws 
of  the  United  States,  and  shall  adopt  the  following  provisions,  hereby  pre 
scribed  by  the  United  States  in  the  execution  of  the  constitutional  duty  to 
guarantee  a  republican  form  of  government  to  every  state,  and  incorporate 
them  in  the  constitution  of  the  state,  that  is  to  say: 

First.  No  person  who  has  held  or  exercised  any  office,  civil  or  military, 
except  offices  merely  ministerial,  and  military  offices  below  the  grade  of  colo 
nel,  state  or  confederate,  under  the  usurping  power,  shall  vote  for  or  be  a 
member  of  the  legislature,  or  governor. 

Second.  Involuntary  servitude  is  forever  prohibited,  and  the  freedom  of 
all  persons  is  guaranteed  in  said  state. 

Third.  No  debt,  state  or  confederate,  created  by  or  under  the  sanction  of 
the  usurping  power,  shall  be  recognized  or  paid  by  the  state. 

SEC.  8.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  when  the  convention  shall  have 
adopted  those  provisions,  it  shall  proceed  to  reestablish  a  republican  form  of 
government,  and  ordain  a  constitution  containing  those  provisions,  which, 
when  adopted,  the  convention  shall  by  ordinance  provide  for  submitting  to 
the  people  of  the  state,  entitled  to  vote  under  this  law,  at  an  election  to  be 
held  in  the  manner  prescribed  by  the  act  for  the  election  of  delegates;  but 
at  a  time  and  place  named  by  the  convention,  at  which  election  the  said 
electors,  and  none  others,  shall  vote  directly  for  or  against  such  constitution 
and  form  of  state  government,  and  the  returns  of  said  election  shall  be  made 
to  the  provisional  governor,  who  shall  canvass  the  same  in  the  presence  of  the 
electors,  and  if  a  majority  of  the  votes  cast  shall  be  for  the  constitution  and 
form  of  government,  he  shall  certify  the  same,  with  a  copy  thereof,  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  who,  after  obtaining  the  assent  of  congress, 
shall,  by  proclamation,  recognize  the  government  so  established,  and  none 
other,  as  the  constitutional  government  of  the  state,  and  from  the  date  of 
such  recognition,  and  not  before,  Senators  and  Representatives,  and  electors 
for  President  and  Vice-President  may  be  elected  in  such  state,  according  to 
the  laws  of  the  state  and  of  the  United  States. 


486    PROCLAMATION  REGARDING  RECONSTRUCTION    [July  8 

SEC.  9.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  if  the  convention  shall  refuse  to 
reestablish  the  state  government  on  the  conditions  aforesaid,  the  provisional 
governor  shall  declare  it  dissolved;  but  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  President, 
whenever  he  shall  have  reason  to  believe  that  a  sufficient  number  of  the 
people  of  the  state  entitled  to  vote  under  this  act,  in  number  not  less  than  a 
majority  of  those  enrolled,  as  aforesaid,  are  willing  to  reestablish  a  state  gov 
ernment  on  the  conditions  aforesaid,  to  direct  the  provisional  governor  to 
order  another  election  of  delegates  to  a  convention  for  the  purpose  and  in 
the  manner  prescribed  in  this  act,  and  to  proceed  in  all  respects  as  herein 
before  provided,  either  to  dissolve  the  convention,  or  to  certify  the  state 
government  reestablished  by  it  to  the  President. 

SEC.  10.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That,  until  the  United  States  shall  have 
recognized  a  republican  form  of  state  government,  the  provisional  governor  in 
each  of  said  states  shall  see  that  this  act,  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States, 
and  the  laws  of  the  state  in  force  when  the  state  government  was  overthrown 
by  the  rebellion,  are  faithfully  executed  within  the  state;  but  no  law  or  usage 
whereby  any  person  was  heretofore  held  in  involuntary  servitude  shall  be 
recognized  or  enforced  by  any  court  or  officer  in  such  state,  and  the  laws  for 
the  trial  and  punishment  of  white  persons  shall  extend  to  all  persons,  and 
jurors  shall  have  the  qualifications  of  voters  under  this  law  for  delegates  to 
the  convention.  The  President  shall  appoint  such  officers  provided  for  by  the 
laws  of  the  state  when  its  government  was  overthrown  as  he  may  find  neces 
sary  to  the  civil  administration  of  the  state,  all  which  officers  shall  be  entitled 
to  receive  the  fees  and  emoluments  provided  by  the  state  laws  for  such  officers. 

SEC.  ii.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  until  the  recognition  of  a  state 
government  as  aforesaid,  the  provisional  governor  shall,  under  such  regula 
tions  as  he  may  prescribe,  cause  to  be  assessed,  levied,  and  collected,  for  the 
year  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-four,  and  every  year  thereafter,  the  taxes 
provided  by  the  laws  of  such  state  to  be  levied  during  the  fiscal  year  preced 
ing  the  overthrow  of  the  state  government  thereof,  in  the  manner  prescribed 
by  the  laws  of  the  state,  as  nearly  as  may  be;  and  the  officers  appointed,  as 
aforesaid,  are  vested  with  all  powers  of  levying  and  collecting  such  taxes,  by 
distress  or  sale,  as  were  vested  in  any  officers  or  tribunal  of  the  state  govern 
ment  aforesaid  for  those  purposes.  The  proceeds  of  such  taxes  shall  be 
accounted  for  to  the  provisional  governor,  and  be  by  him  applied  to  the  ex 
penses  of  the  administration  of  the  laws  in  such  state,  subject  to  the  direction 
of  the  President,  and  the  surplus  shall  be  deposited  in  the  treasury  of  the 
United  States  to  the  credit  of  such  state,  to  be  paid  to  the  state  upon  an  ap 
propriation  therefor,  to  be  made  when  a  republican  form  of  government 
shall  be  recognized  therein  by  the  United  States. 

SEC.  12.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  all  persons  held  to  involuntary 
servitude  or  labor  in  the  states  aforesaid  are  hereby  emancipated  and  dis 
charged  therefrom,  and  they  and  their  posterity  shall  be  forever  free.  And 
if  any  such  persons  or  their  posterity  shall  be  restrained  of  liberty,  under  pre 
tence  of  any  claim  to  such  service  or  labor,  the  courts  of  the  United  States 
shall,  on  habeas  corpus,  discharge  them. 

SEC.  13.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  if  any  person  declared  free  by  this 
act,  or  any  law  of  the  United  States,  or  any  proclamation  of  the  President,  be 


1864]  ELECTORAL   COUNT  487 

restrained  of  liberty,  with  intent  to  be  held  in  or  reduced  to  involuntary  servi 
tude  or  labor,  the  person  convicted  before  a  court  of  competent  jurisdiction 
of  such  act  shall  be  punished  by  fine  of  not  less  than  fifteen  hundred  dollars, 
and  be  imprisoned  not  less  than  five  nor  more  than  twenty  years. 

SEC.  14.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  every  person  who  shall  hereafter 
hold  or  exercise  any  office,  civil  or  military,  except  offices  merely  ministerial, 
and  military  offices  below  the  grade  of  colonel,  in  the  rebel  service,  state  or 
confederate,  is  hereby  declared  not  to  be  a  citizen  of  the  United  States. 


No.   140.     Electoral  Count 


February  8,  1865 

A  JOINT  resolution  declaring  certain  States  not  eligible  to  representation 
in  the  electoral  college  was  presented  in  the  House  December  19,  1864,  by 
Wilson  of  Iowa,  and  passed  the  House  January  30,  1865.  The  resolution 
was  reported  in  the  Senate  February  i,  with  an  amendment  to  the  preamble. 
An  amendment  to  strike  out  Louisiana  from  the  list  of  States  named  was 
rejected,  and  on  the  4th,  by  a  vote  of  29  to  10,  the  amended  resolution  passed 
the  Senate.  The  House  concurred  in  the  Senate  amendment.  In  his  mes 
sage  of  approval,  February  8,  Lincoln  disclaimed  "all  right  of  the  Executive 
to  interfere  in  any  way  in  the  matter  of  canvassing  or  counting  electoral 
votes,"  and  further  disclaimed  "that  by  signing  said  resolution  he  has  ex 
pressed  any  opinion  on  the  recitals  of  the  preamble  or  any  judgment  of  his 
own  upon  the  subject  of  the  resolution." 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XIII.,  567,  568.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  38th  Cong.,  ad  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Globe. 

Joint  Resolution  declaring  certain  States  not  entitled  to  Representa 
tion  in  the  Electoral  College. 

WHEREAS  the  inhabitants  and  local  authorities  of  the  States 
of  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Florida, 
Alabama,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Texas,  Arkansas,  and  Ten 
nessee  rebelled  against  the  government  of  the  United  States, 
and  were  in  such  condition  on  ...  [November  8,  1864,]  .  .  . 
that  no  valid  election  for  electors  of  President  and  Vice-President 
of  the  United  States,  according  to  the  constitution  and  laws  thereof, 
was  held  therein  on  said  day :  Therefore, 

Be  it  resolved  .  ,  ,  ,  That  the  states  mentioned  in  the  preamble 


488  FREED  MEN'S    BUREAU  [March  j 

io  this  joint  resolution  are  not  entitled  to  representation  in  the 
electoral  college  for  the  choice  of  President  and  Vice-President 
of  the  United  States,  for  the  term  of  office  commencing  .  .  . 
[March  4,  1865]  •  «  •  i  and  no  electoral  votes  shall  be  received 
or  counted  from  said  states  concerning  the  choice  of  President  and 
Vice-President  for  said  term  of  office. 


No.   141.     Freedmen's  Bureau 


March  3,  1865 

A  BILL  "  to  establish  a  bureau  of  emancipation  "  was  reported  in  the  House 
December  22,  1863,  by  Eliot  of  Massachusetts,  from  the  Select  Committee  on 
Emancipation,  and  recommitted.  The  bill  was  reported  with  amendments 
January  13,  1864,  and  March  i  passed  the  House  by  a  vote  of  69  to  67.  In 
the  Senate  the  bill  was  referred  to  the  Select  Committee  on  Slavery  and 
Freedmen,  of  which  Sumner  was  chairman.  A  bill  to  establish  a  bureau  of 
freedmen  was  reported  from  the  committee  April  12.  May  25  the  committee 
reported  the  House  bill  with  a  substitute  amendment,  and  the  bill  thus 
amended  passed  the  Senate  June  29  by  a  vote  of  21  to  9.  The  select  com 
mittee  of  the  House  recommended  that  the  amendments  of  the  Senate  be 
disagreed  to.  Further  action  was  postponed  until  December.  December  20 
a  conference  committee  was  appointed.  The  report  of  the  committee  was 
accepted  by  the  House  February  9,  1865,  by  a  vote  of  64  to  62,  56  not  vot 
ing,  but  rejected  by  the  Senate  on  the  22d  by  a  vote  of  14  to  24.  March  3 
the  report  of  a  second  conference  committee  was  agreed  to  by  both  houses. 
An  act  of  July  16,  1866,  continued  the  act  of  1865  in  force  until  July  16, 
1868,  and  enlarged  the  scope  of  the  bureau. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XIII.,  507-509.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  38th  Cong.,  ist  and  2d  Sess., 
and  the  Cong.  Globe.  The  supplementary  act  of  1866  is  in  MacDonald's 
Select  Statutes,  No.  51.  On  the  work  of  the  bureau  see  Senate  Exec.  Doc. 
28,  38th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.;  House  Exec.  Docs,  n,  70,  and  120,  39th  Cong., 
ist  Sess.;  House  Exec.  Doc.  7,  39th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.;  House  Report  30,  4oth 
Cong.,  2d  Sess.;  House  Exec.  Doc.  329,  ibid. ;  House  Exec.  Doc.  142,  4ist 
Cong.,  2d  Sess.;  House  Misc.  Doc.  87,  42d  Cong.,  3d  Sess.;  House  Exec. 
Doc.  io,  43d  Cong.,  ist  Sess.;  House  Exec.  Doc.  144,  44th  Cong.,  ist  Sess. 
On  the  condition  of  freedmen  see  Senate  Exec.  Doc.  53,  and  Senate  Report  25, 
38th  Cong.,  ist  Sess. ;  House  Exec.  Doc.  118,  39th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.  Southern 
State  legislation  respecting  freedmen  is  summarized  in  McPherson,  Recon 
struction,  29-44. 


1865]  FREEDMEN'S   BUREAU  489 

An  Act  to  establish  a  Bureau  for  the  Relief  of  Freedmen  and 

Refugees. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  there  is  hereby  established  in  the 
War  Department,  to  continue  during  the  present  war  of  rebel 
lion,  and  for  one  year  thereafter,  a  bureau  of  refugees,  freed- 
men,  and  abandoned  lands,  to  which  shall  be  committed,  as 
hereinafter  provided,  the  supervision  and  management  of  all 
abandoned  lands,  and  the  control  of  all  subjects  relating  to  refu 
gees  and  freedmen  from  rebel  states,  or  from  any  district  of 
country  within  the  territory  embraced  in  the  operations  of  the 
army,  under  such  rules  and  regulations  as  may  be  prescribed  by 
the  head  of  the  bureau  and  approved  by  the  President.  The 
said  bureau  shall  be  under  the  management  and  control  of  a 
commissioner  to  be  appointed  by  the  President,  by  and  with  the 
advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate.  .  .  . 

»-SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  Secretary  of 
War  may  direct  such  issues  of  provisions,  clothing,  and  fuel,  as 
he  may  deem  needful  for  the  immediate  and  temporary  shelter 
and  supply  of  destitute  and  suffering  refugees  and  freedmen 
and  their  wives  and  children,  under  such  rules  and  regulations 
as  he  may  direct. 

SEC.  3.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  President  may, 
by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  appoint  an 
assistant  commissioner  for  each  of  the  states  declared  to  be  in 
insurrection,  not  exceeding  ten  in  number,  who  shall,  under  the 
direction  of  the  commissioner,  aid  in  the  execution  of  the  provi 
sions  of  this  act ;  .  .  .  And  any  military  officer  may  be  detailed  and 
assigned  to  duty  under  this  act  without  increase  of  pay  or  allow 
ances.  .  .  . 

SEC.  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  commissioner, 
under  the  direction  of  the  President,  shall  have  authority  to  set 
apart,  for  the  use  of  loyal  refugees  and  freedmen,  such  tracts  of 
land  within  the  insurrectionary  states  as  shall  have  been  aban 
doned,  or  to  which  the  United  States  shall  have  acquired  title 
by  confiscation  or  sale,  or  otherwise,  and  to  every  male  citizen, 
whether  refugee  or  freedman,  as  aforesaid,  there  shall  be 
assigned  not  more  than  forty  acres  of  such  land,  and  the  person 
to  whom  it  was  so  assigned  shall  be  protected  in  the  use  and 


490  FREEDOM   FOR   SOLDIERS'    FAMILIES          [March  4 

enjoyment  of  the  land  for  the  term  of  three  years  at  an  annual 
rent  not  exceeding  six  per  centum  upon  the  value  of  such  land, 
as  it  was  appraised  by  the  state  authorities  in  the  year  eighteen 
hundred  and  sixty,  for  the  purpose  of  taxation,  and  in  case  no 
such  appraisal  can  be  found,  then  the  rental  shall  be  based  upon 
the  estimated  value  of  the  land  in  said  year,  to  be  ascertained 
in  such  manner  as  the  commissioT'^r  may  by  regulation  prescribe. 
At  the  end  of  said  term,  or  at  any  time  during  said  term,  the  occu 
pants  of  any  parcels  so  assigned  may  purchase  the  land  and  re 
ceive  such  title  thereto  as  the  United  States  can  convey,  upon 
paying  therefor  the  value  of  the  land,  as  ascertained  and  fixed 
for  the  purpose  of  determining  the  annual  rent  aforesaid. 


No.  142.      Freedom  for  Soldiers'  Families 

March  3,   1865 

A  BILL  to  secure  the  freedom  of  soldiers'  families  was  introduced  in  the 
Senate  December  13,  1864,  by  Wilson  of  Massachusetts,  and  passed  that 
body  January  9,  1865,  notwithstanding  strong  opposition,  by  a  vote  of  27  to 
10.  The  vote  in  the  House,  February  22,  on  the  passage  of  the  bill  was  74 
to  63,  45  not  voting. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XIII.,  571.  For  the  pro 
ceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  38th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Globe.  The  important  debate  was  in  the  Senate. 

A  Resolution  to  encourage  Enlistments  and  to  promote  the  Effi 
ciency  of  the  military  Forces  of  the  United  States. 

Resolved  .  .  .  ,  That,  for  the  purpose  of  encouraging  enlistments 
and  promoting  the  efficiency  of  the  military  and  naval  forces  of 
the  United  States,  it  is  hereby  enacted  that  the  wife  and  children, 
if  any  he  have,  of  any  person  that  has  been,  or  may  be,  mustered 
into  the  military  or  naval  service  of  the  United  States,  shall, 
from  and  after  the  passage  of  this  act,  be  forever  free,  any  law, 
usage,  or  custom  whatsoever  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding  .  .  . 


1865]  GOVERNOR   FOR   NORTH   CAROLINA  491 

No.  143.     Proclamation  appointing  a  Gov 
ernor  for  North  Carolina 

May  29,  1865 

THE  appointment  of  military  governors  in  the  States  lately  in  rebellion, 
and  the  reestablishment  of  the  State  governments  under  their  direction,  were 
steps  of  primary  importance  in  the  plan  of  executive  reconstruction  proposed 
by  President  Johnson.  Appointments  similar  to  that  in  North  Carolina  were 
proclaimed  June  13,  for  Mississippi;  June  17,  for  Georgia  and  Texas;  June 
21,  for  Alabama;  June  30,  for  South  Carolina,  and  July  13,  for  Florida.  An 
executive  order  of  May  9  had  declared  the  authority  of  the  United  States 
reestablished  in  Virginia,  directed  the  various  departments  of  the  national 
government  to  resume  operations  in  that  State,  and  promised  federal  aid  to 
Governor  Pierpont  if  necessary. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XIII.,  760,  761.  On 
Johnson's  theory  of  reconstruction  in  this  connection,  see  his  annual  message 
of  December  4,  1865. 

WHEREAS  the  fourth  section  of  the  fourth  article  of  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States  declares  that  the  United  States 
shall  guarantee  to  every  state  in  the  Union  a  republican  form  of 
government,  and  shall  protect  each  of  them  against  invasion  and 
domestic  violence;  and  whereas  the  President  of  the  United 
States  is,  by  the  constitution,  made  commander-in-chief  of  the 
army  and  navy,  as  well  as  chief  civil  executive  officer  of  the 
United  States,  and  is  bound  by  solemn  oath  faithfully  to  execute 
the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States,  and  to  take  care 
that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed;  and  whereas  the  rebellion, 
which  has  been  waged  by  a  portion  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States  against  the  properly  constituted  authorities  of  the  govern 
ment  thereof,  in  the  most  violent  and  revolting  form,  but  whose 
organized  and  armed  forces  have  now  been  almost  entirely  over 
come,  has,  in  its  revolutionary  progress,  deprived  the  people  of 
the  State  of  North  Carolina  of  all  civil  government;  and  where 
as  it  becomes  necessary  and  proper  to  carry  out  and  enforce 
the  obligations  of  the  United  States  to  the  people  of  North  Caro 
lina,  in  securing  them  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  republican  form  of 
government : 

Now,  therefore,  in  obedience  to  the  high  and  solemn  duties 


492  GOVERNOR   FOR   NORTH   CAROLINA  [May  29 

imposed  upon  me  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and 
for  the  purpose  of  enabling  the  loyal  people  of  said  state  to  or 
ganize  a  state  government,  whereby  justice  may  be  established, 
domestic  tranquillity  insured,  and  loyal  citizens  protected  in  all 
their  rights  of  life,  liberty,  and  property,  I,  ANDREW  JOHN 
SON,  President  of  the  United  States,  and  commander-in-chief  of 
the  army  and  navy  of  the  United  States,  do  hereby  appoint  William 
W.  Holden  provisional  governor  of  the  State  of  North  Carolina, 
whose  duty  it  shall  be,  at  the  earliest  practicable  period,  to 
prescribe  such  rules  and  regulations  as  may  be  necessary  and 
proper  for  convening  a  convention,  composed  of  delegates  to  be 
chosen  by  that  portion  of  the  people  of  said  state  who  are  loyal 
to  the  United  States,  and  no  others,  for  the  purpose  of  altering 
or  amending  the  constitution  thereof;  and  with  authority  to 
exercise,  within  the  limits  of  said  state,  all  the  powers  necessary 
and  proper  to  enable  such  loyal  people  of  the  State  of  North 
Carolina  to  restore  said  state  to  its  constitutional  relations  to  the 
federal  government,  and  to  present  such  a  republican  form  of 
state  government  as  will  entitle  the  state  to  the  guarantee  of  the 
United  States  therefor,  and  its  people  to  protection  by  the 
United  States  against  invasion,  insurrection,  and  domestic  vio 
lence;  Provided  that,  in  any  election  that  may  be  hereafter  held 
for  choosing  delegates  to  any  state  convention  as  aforesaid,  no 
person  shall  be  qualified  as  an  elector,  or  shall  be  eligible  as 
a  member  of  such  convention,  unless  he  shall  have  previously 
taken  and  subscribed  the  oath  of  amnesty,  as  set  forth  in  the 
President's  Proclamation  of  May  29,  A.D.  1865,  and  is  a  voter 
qualified  as  prescribed  by  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  State 
of  North  Carolina  in  force  immediately  before  the  2oth  day  of 
May,  A.D.  1861,  the  date  of  the  so-called  ordinance  of  secession; 
and  the  said  convention,  when  convened,  or  the  legislature  that 
may  be  thereafter  assembled,  will  prescribe  the  qualification  of 
electors,  and  the  eligibility  of  persons  to  hold  office  under  the 
constitution  and  laws  of  the  state,  —  a  power  the  people  of  the 
several  states  composing  the  Federal  Union  have  rightfully  exer 
cised  from  the  origin  of  the  government  to  the  present  time. 

And  I  do  hereby  direct  — 

First.  That  the  military  commander  of  the  department,  and 
all  officers  and  persons  in  the  military  or  naval  service,  aid  and 


1865]  GOVERNOR   FOR   NORTH   CAROLINA  493 

assist  the  said  provisional  governor  in  carrying  into  effect  this 
Proclamation,  and  they  be  enjoined  to  abstain  from,  in  any  way, 
hindering,  impeding,  or  discouraging  the  loyal  people  from  the 
organization  of  a  state  government  as  herein  authorized. 

Second.  That  the  Secretary  of  State  proceed  to  put  in  force 
all  laws  of  the  United  States,  the  administration  whereof  belongs 
to  the  State  Department,  applicable  to  the  geographical  limits 
aforesaid. 

Third.  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  proceed  to  nomi 
nate  for  appointment  assessors  of  taxes,  and  collectors  of  customs 
and  internal  revenue,  and  such  other  officers  of  the  Treasury 
Department  as  are  authorized  by  law,  and  put  in  execution  the 
revenue  laws  of  the  United  States  within  the  geographical  limits 
aforesaid.  In  making  appointments,  the  preference  shall  be 
given  to  qualified  loyal  persons  residing  within  the  districts 
where  their  respective  duties  are  to  be  performed.  But  if  suit 
able  residents  of  the  districts  shall  not  be  found,  then  persons 
residing  in  other  states  or  districts  shall  be  appointed. 

Fourth.  That  the  Postmaster- General  proceed  to  establish 
post-offices  and  post-routes,  and  put  into  execution  the  postal 
laws  of  the  United  States  within  the  said  state,  giving  to  loyal 
residents  the  preference  of  appointment;  but  if  suitable  resi 
dents  are  not  found,  then  to  appoint  agents,  &c.,  from  other 
states. 

Fifth.  That  the  district  judge  for  the  judicial  district  in  which 
North  Carolina  is  included  proceed  to  hold  courts  within  said 
state,  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  act  of  congress. 
The  Attorney- General  will  instruct  the  proper  officers  to  libel, 
and  bring  to  .judgment,  confiscation,  and  sale,  property  subject 
to  confiscation,  and  enforce  the  administration  of  justice  within 
said  state  in  all  matters  within  the  cognizance  and  jurisdiction 
of  the  federal  courts. 

Sixth.  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  take  possession  of  all 
public  property  belonging  to  the  Navy  Department  within  said 
geographical  limits,  and  put  in  operation  all  acts  of  congress  in 
relation  to  naval  affairs  having  application  to  the  said  state. 

Seventh.  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  put  in  force  the 
laws  relating  to  the  Interior  Department  applicable  to  the  geo 
graphical  limits  aforesaid. 


494  FIRST   CIVIL   RIGHTS   ACT  [April  9 


No.  144.     Thirteenth  Amendment 

December  18,  1865 

JANUARY  n,  1864,  John  B.  Henderson  of  Missouri  offered  in  the  Senate  a 
joint  resolution  for  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  providing  that  "slavery 
or  involuntary  servitude,  except  as  a  punishment  for  crime,  shall  not  exist  in 
the  United  States."  February  8  Sumner  proposed  an  amendment  declaring 
that  "everywhere  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States,  and  of  each  State  or 
Territory  thereof,  all  persons  are  equal  before  the  law,  so  that  no  person  can 
hold  another  as  a  slave."  Both  of  these  resolutions  were  referred  to  the  Com 
mittee  on  the  Judiciary,  which  reported,  February  10,  a  resolution  proposing 
an  amendment  in  the  terms  of  the  thirteenth  amendment  subsequently  ratified. 
On  the  1 5th  the  House,  by  a  vote  of  78  to  62,  resolved  in  favor  of  an  amend 
ment  abolishing  slavery.  The  joint  resolution  passed  the  Senate  April  8,  by 
a  vote  of  38  to  6.  The  resolution  was  not  taken  up  in  the  House  until  May  31, 
and  June  15,  by  a  vote  of  95  to  66  (less  than  the  required  two-thirds),  was 
rejected.  January  31,  1865,  the  vote  was  reconsidered  and  the  resolution 
passed,  the  vote  being  121  to  24,  37  not  voting.  The  ratification  of  the 
amendment  by  twenty-seven  States  was  proclaimed  December  18,  1865. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Revised  Statutes  of  the  United  States  (ed.  1878), 
30.  For  the  proceedings  in  Congress  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals, 
38th  Cong.,  ist  and  2d  Sess.,  and  the  Cong.  Globe.  The  principal  proposi 
tions  submitted  are  collected  in  McPherson,  Rebellion,  255-259.  On  the 
scope  of  the  amendment  see  Slaughter  House  Cases,  16  Wallace,  36. 

ARTICLE  XIII. 

SEC.  i.  Neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude,  save  as 
a  punishment  for  crime  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly 
convicted,  shall  exist  within  the  United  States,  or  any  place 
subject  to  their  jurisdiction. 

SEC.  2.  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce  this  article  by 
appropriate  legislation. 


No.  145.     First  Civil  Rights  Act 

April  9,   1866 

A  BILL  "to  protect  all  persons  in  the  United  States  in  their  civil  rights  and 
furnish  the  means  of  their  vindication  "  was  introduced  in  the  Senate  January 
5,  1866,  by  Lyman  Trumbull  of  Illinois,  and  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
Judiciary.  Amendments  reported  by  the  committee  were  agreed  to  on  the 


i866]  FIRST   CIVIL   RIGHTS   ACT  495 

1 2th.  February  i  an  amendment  submitted  by  Trumbull,  regarding  the 
citizenship  of  persons  born  in  the  United  States,  being  the  first  part  of  sec 
tion  i  of  the  act,  was  agreed  to  by  a  vote  of  31  to  10,  but  the  following  day 
an  amendment  striking  out  the  provision  for  the  employment  of  military  force 
was  rejected,  the  vote  being  12  to  24.  The  bill  passed  the  Senate  February  2, 
and  the  House,  with  further  amendments,  March  13,  the  vote  in  the  House 
being  in  to  38,  34  not  voting.  The  Senate  agreed  to  the  House  amend 
ments.  March  27  President  Johnson  vetoed  the  bill.  The  bill  was  passed 
over  the  veto  by  the  Senate,  after  a  long  discussion,  April  6,  by  a  vote  of  33  to 
15,  and  by  the  House  April  9,  by  a  vote  of  132  to  41,  21  not  voting. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XIV.,  27-29.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  39th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Globe.  The  text  of  the  Senate  bill  as  reported  by  the  committee  is  in 
the  Globe  for  January  1 2.  The  veto  message  is  in  the  Globe  and  the  Journals. 
For  a  report  of  February  19,  1867,  on  violations  of  the  act,  see  Senate  Exec. 
Doc.  29,  39th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.;  for  State  laws  relating  to  freedmen  see  Senate 
Exec.  Doc.  6,  ibid. 

An  Act  to  protect  all  Persons  in  the  United  States  in  their  Civil 
Rights,  and  furnish  the  Means  of  their  Vindication. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  all  persons  born  in  the  United  States 
and  not  subject  to  any  foreign  power,  excluding  Indians  not  taxed, 
are  hereby  declared  to  be  citizens  of  the  United  States;  and 
such  citizens,  of  every  race  and  color,  without  regard  to  any 
previous  condition  of  slavery  or  involuntary  servitude,  except  as 
a  punishment  for  crime  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly 
convicted,  shall  have  the  same  right,  in  every  State  and  Terri 
tory  in  the  United  States,  to  make  and  enforce  contracts,  to  sue, 
be  parties,  and  give  evidence,  to  inherit,  purchase,  lease,  sell, 
hold,  and  convey  real  and  personal  property,  and  to  full  and 
equal  benefit  of  all  laws  and  proceedings  for  the  security  of  per 
son  and  property,  as  is  enjoyed  by  white  citizens,  and  shall  be 
subject  to  like  punishment,  pains,  and  penalties,  and  to  none 
other,  any  law,  statute,  ordinance,  regulation,  or  custom,  to  the 
contrary  notwithstanding. 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  any  person  who, 
under  color  of  any  law,  statute,  ordinance,  regulation,  or  custom, 
shall  subject,  or  cause  to  be  subjected,  any  inhabitant  of  any 
State  or  Territory  to  the  deprivation  of  any  right  secured  or 
protected  by  this  act,  or  to  different  punishment,  pains,  or  penal 
ties  on  account  of  such  person  having  at  any  time  been  held  in  a 
condition  of  slavery  or  involuntary  servitude,  except  as  a  punish- 


496  FIRST   CIVIL   RIGHTS   ACT  [April  g 

ment  for  crime  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted, 
or  by  reason  of  his  color  or  race,  than  is  prescribed  for  the 
punishment  of  white  persons,  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  mis 
demeanor,  and,  on  conviction,  shall  be  punished  by  fine  not 
exceeding  one  thousand  dollars,  or  imprisonment  not  exceeding 
one  year,  or  both,  in  the  discretion  of  the  court. 

SEC.  3.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  district  courts  of 
the  United  States,  within  their  respective  districts,  shall  have, 
exclusively  of  the  courts  of  the  several  States,  cognizance  of  all 
crimes  and  offences  committed  against  the  provisions  of  this  act, 
and  also,  concurrently  with  the  circuit  courts  of  the  United 
States,  of  all  causes,  civil  and  criminal,  affecting  persons  who  are 
denied  or  cannot  enforce  in  the  courts  or  judicial  tribunals  of 
the  State  or  locality  where  they  may  be  any  of  the  rights  secured 
to  them  by  the  first  section  of  this  act.  .  .  .  The  jurisdiction  in 
civil  and  criminal  matters  hereby  conferred  on  the  district  and 
circuit  courts  of  the  United  States  shall  be  exercised  and  enforced 
in  conformity  with  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  so  far  as  such 
laws  are  suitable  to  carry  the  same  into  effect;  but  in  all  cases 
where  such  laws  are  not  adapted  to  the  object,  or  are  deficient 
in  the  provisions  necessary  to  furnish  suitable  remedies  and 
punish  offences  against  law,  the  common  law,  as  modified  and 
changed  by  the  constitution  and  statutes  of  the  State  wherein 
the  court  having  jurisdiction  of  the  cause,  civil  or  criminal,  is 
held,  so  far  as  the  same  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  Constitution 
and  laws  of  the  United  States,  shall  be  extended  to  and  govern 
said  courts  in  the  trial  and  disposition  of  such  cause,  and,  if  of 
a  criminal  nature,  in  the  infliction  of  punishment  on  the  party 
found  guilty. 

SEC.  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  district  attor 
neys,  marshals,  and  deputy  marshals  of  the  United  States,  the 
commissioners  appointed  by  the  circuit  and  territorial  courts 
of  the  United  States,  with  powers  of  arresting,  imprisoning,  or 
bailing  offenders  against  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  the 
officers  and  agents  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau,  and  every  other 
officer  who  may  be  specially  empowered  by  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  shall  be,  and  they  are  hereby,  specially 
authorized  and  required,  at  the  expense  of  the  United  States,  to 
institute  proceedings  against  all  and  every  person  who  shall 


i866]  FIRST   CIVIL   RIGHTS   ACT  497 

violate  the  provisions  of  this  act,  and  cause  him  or  them  to  be 
arrested  and  imprisoned,  or  bailed,  as  the  case  may  be,  for  trial 
before  such  court  of  the  United  States  or  territorial  court  as  by 
this  act  has  cognizance  of  the  offence.  And  with  a  view  to 
affording  reasonable  protection  to  all  persons  in  their  constitu 
tional  rights  of  equality  before  the  law,  without  distinction  of 
race  or  color,  or  previous  condition  of  slavery  or  involuntary 
servitude,  except  as  a  punishment  for  crime,  whereof  the  party 
shall  have  been  duly  convicted,  and  to  the  prompt  discharge  of 
the  duties  of  this  act,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  circuit  courts  of 
the  United  States  and  the  superior  courts  of  the  Territories 
of  the  United  States,  from  time  to  time,  to  increase  the  number 
of  commissioners,  so  as  to  afford  a  speedy  and  convenient  means 
for  the  arrest  and  examination  of  persons  charged  with  a  viola 
tion  of  this  act  ... 

#####*#* 

SEC.  8.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  whenever  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States  shall  have  reason  to  believe  that 
offences  have  been  or  are  likely  to  be  committed  against  the 
provisions  of  this  act  within  any  judicial  district,  it  shall  be  law 
ful  for  him,  in  his  discretion,  to  direct  the  judge,  marshal,  and 
district  attorney  of  such  district  to  attend  at  such  place  within 
the  district,  and  for  such  time  as  he  may  designate,  for  the  pur 
pose  of  the  more  speedy  arrest  and  trial  of  persons  charged 
with  a  violation  of  this  act ;  and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  every 
judge  or  other  officer,  when  any  such  requisition  shall  be  re 
ceived  by  him,  to  attend  at  the  place  and  for  the  time  therein 
designated. 

SEC.  9.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  it  shall  be  lawful  for 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  or  such  person  as  he  may 
empower  for  that  purpose,  to  employ  such  part  of  the  land  or 
naval  forces  of  the  United  States,  or  of  the  militia,  as  shall  be 
necessary  to  prevent  the  violation  and  enforce  the  due  execution 
of  this  act. 

SEC.  10.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  upon  all  questions  of 
law  arising  in  any  cause  under  the  provisions  of  this  act  a  final 
appeal  may  be  taken  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 


2K 


4.98  RESTORATION   OF  TENNESSEE  [July  24 


No.  146.    Restoration  of  Tennessee 

July  24,  1866 

A  BILL  to  restore  Tennessee,  accompanied  by  certain  testimony  and  other 
papers,  was  reported  in  the  House  March  5,  1866,  by  Bingham  of  Ohio,  from 
the  Joint  Select  Committee  on  Reconstruction,  and  recommitted.  It  was 
taken  up  July  19,  and  agreed  to  on  the  2oth,  the  vote  on  the  preamble  being 
86  to  48,  48  not  voting,  and  on  the  resolution  126  to  12,  45  not  voting.  In  the 
Senate  an  amendment  proposed  by  Sumner,  providing  that  there  should  be 
no  denial  of  equal  legal  rights  on  account  of  race  or  color,  was  rejected,  4  to 
34,  and  an  amended  preamble  agreed  to,  the  latter  vote  being  23  to  20.  The 
amendments  to  the  resolution  were  agreed  to  by  the  House  July  23,  without 
a  division,  and  the  amendment  to  the  preamble  by  a  vote  of  93  to  26,  62  not 
voting. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XIV.,  364.  For  the  pro 
ceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  39th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Globe.  The  majority  and  minority  reports  of  March  5  and  6  are 
House  Reports  29  and  30.  In  the  history  of  the  act  the  evolution  of  the  pre 
amble  is  particularly  important. 

Joint  Resolution  restoring  Tennessee  to  her  Relations  to  the  Union. 

WHEREAS,  in  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-one,  the 
government  of  the  State  of  Tennessee  was  seized  upon  and  taken 
possession  of  by  persons  in  hostility  to  the  United  States,  and 
the  inhabitants  of  said  State  in  pursuance  of  an  act  of  Congress 
were  declared  to  be  in  a  state  of  insurrection  against  the  United 
States;  and  whereas  said  State  government  can  only  be  restored 
to  its  former  political  relations  in  the  Union  by  the  consent  of 
the  law-making  power  of  the  United  States;  and  whereas  the 
people  of  said  State  did,  on  ...  [February  22,  1865]  .  .  .  ,  by 
a  large  popular  vote,  adopt  and  ratify  a  constitution  of  govern 
ment  whereby  slavery  was  abolished,  and  all  ordinances  and  laws 
of  secession  and  debts  contracted  under  the  same  were  declared 
void;  and  whereas  a  State  government  has  been  organized  under 
said  constitution  which  has  ratified  the  amendment  to  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States  abolishing  slavery,  also  the  amend 
ment  proposed  by  the  thirty-ninth  Congress,  and  has  done  other 
acts  proclaiming  and  denoting  loyalty;  Therefore, 

Be  it  resolved  .  .  .  ,  That  the  State  of  Tennessee  is  hereby 
restored  to  her  former  proper,  practical  relations  to  the  Union, 


i866]       FRANCHISE  IN  THE  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA         499 

and  is  again  entitled  to  be  represented  by  senators  and  repre 
sentatives  in  Congress. 


No.  147.     Franchise  in  the  District  of 
Columbia 

January  8,  1867 

A  BILL  to  regulate  the  elective  franchise  in  the  District  of  Columbia  was 
introduced  in  the  Senate  December  4,  1865,  by  Wade  of  Ohio,  and  reported 
with  amendments  on  the  2oth.  January  10,  1866,  the  bill  was  recommitted, 
and  on  the  i2th  again  reported  with  an  amendment.  It  was  not  taken  up 
until  June  28,  when  further  consideration  was  postponed  until  December. 
The  bill  was  taken  up  December  10,  and  on  the  i3th  passed  the  Senate,  the 
vote  being  32  to  13.  On  the  i4th  the  bill  passed  the  House  by  a  vote  of  127 
to  46,  18  not  voting.  January  7,  1867,  President  Johnson  vetoed  the  bill. 
The  bill  was  passed  over  the  veto  by  the  Senate  on  the  7th,  by  a  vote  of  29  to 
10,  and  by  the  House  on  the  8th,  by  a  vote  of  112  to  38,  41  not  voting. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XIV.,  375,  376.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  39th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Globe.  A  minority  report  in  the  House,  December  19,  1865,  is  House 
Report  2,  39th  Cong.,  ist  Sess. 

AN  ACT  to  regulate  the  elective  franchise  in  the  District  of 

Columbia. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That,  from  and. after  the  passage  of  this 
act,  each  and  every  male  person,  excepting  paupers  and  persons 
under  guardianship,  of  the  age  of  twenty-one  years  and  upwards, 
who  has  not  been  convicted  of  any  infamous  crime  or  offence, 
and  excepting  persons  who  may  have  voluntarily  given  aid  and 
comfort  to  the  rebels  in  the  late  rebellion,  and  who  shall  have 
been  born  or  naturalized  in  the  United  States,  and  who  shall 
have  resided  in  the  said  District  for  the  period  of  one  year,  and 
three  months  in  the  ward  or  election  precinct  in  which  he  shall 
offer  to  vote  next  preceding  any  election  therein,  shall  be  en 
titled  to  the  elective  franchise,  and  shall  be  deemed  an  elector 
and  entitled  to  vote  at  any  election  in  said  District,  without  any 
distinction  on  account  of  color  or  race. 

******** 


500  FIRST   RECONSTRUCTION   ACT  [March  2 

No.  148.     Elective  Franchise  in  the  Terri 
tories 

January  31,   1867 

A  BILL  to  amend  the  organic  acts  of  the  several  Territories  was  introduced 
in  the  House  April  24,  1866,  by  James  M.  Ashley  of  Ohio,  and  referred  to 
the  Committee  on  Territories.  The  bill  was  reported  without  amendment  on 
the  26th,  recommitted,  and  again  reported  May  3.  A  substitute  offered  by 
Ashley  May  15,  the  ninth  section  of  which  prohibited  the  denial  of  the  elective 
franchise  on  account  of  race  or  color,  was  agreed  to  by  a  vote  of  79  to  43,  6 1 
not  voting,  a  motion  to  strike  out  the  ninth  section  being  defeated  by  a  vote 
of  36  to  76,  72  not  voting.  The  bill  was  reported  with  amendments  in  the 
Senate  May  31,  but  went  over  until  the  next  session.  January  10,  1867, 
a  substitute  in  the  words  of  the  act  following,  offered  by  Wade  of  Ohio,  was 
agreed  to.  The  Senate  amendment  was  accepted  by  the  House  by  a  vote  of 
104  to  38,  49  not  voting.  The  bill  became  a  law  without  the  President's 
approval. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XIV.,  379.  For  the  pro 
ceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  39th  Cong.,  ist  and  2d  Sess., 
and  the  Cong.  Globe.  An  abstract  of  the  House  bill  of  May  3  is  in  the  Globe 
for  that  date;  Ashley's  substitute,  ibid.,  May  15. 

An  Act  to  regulate  the  elective .  Franchise  in  the  Territories  of  the 
United  States. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .,  That  from  and  after  the  passage  of  this  act, 
there  shall  be  no  denial  of  the  elective  franchise  in  any  of  the 
Territories  of  the  United  States,  now,  or  hereafter  to  be  organ 
ized,  to  any  citizen  thereof,  on  account  of  race,  color,  or  pre 
vious  condition  of  servitude;  and  all  acts  or  parts  of  acts,  either 
of  Congress  or  the  Legislative  Assemblies  of  said  Territories, 
inconsistent  with  the  provisions  of  this  act  are  hereby  declared 
null  and  void. 


No.  149.     First  Reconstruction  Act 

March  2,  1867 

THE  question  of  the  restoration  of  the  insurrectionary  States  to  a  place  in 
the  Union  early  engaged  the  attention  of  Congress,  and  many  resolutions 
setting  forth  the  opinions  of  their  framers  as  to  the  way  in  which  such  resto 
ration  should  be  brought  about,  were  submitted.  A  concurrent  resolution 


1867]  FIRST   RECONSTRUCTION  ACT  501 

of  March  2,  1866,  declared  "that,  in  order  to  close  agitation  upon  a  question 
which  seems  likely  to  disturb  the  action  of  the  government,  as  well  as  to  quiet 
the  uncertainty  which  is  agitating  the  minds  of  the  people  of  the  eleven 
States  which  have  been  declared  to  be  in  rebellion,  no  senator  or  representa 
tive  shall  be  admitted  into  either  branch  of  Congress  from  any  of  said  States 
until  Congress  shall  have  declared  such  State  entitled  to  such  representation." 
The  majority  report  of  the  Joint  Committee  on  Reconstruction  was  submitted 
June  18,  1866,  and  the  minority  report  four  days  later.  A  bill  to  reconstruct 
North  Carolina  was  introduced  by  Thaddeus  Stevens  December  13.  Febru 
ary  6,  1867,  however,  Stevens  reported  from  the  joint  committee  a  general 
reconstruction  bill.  On  the  i3th  a  substitute  offered  by  Stevens  was  agreed 
to,  and  the  bill  passed  the  House,  the  vote  being  109  to  55,  26  not  voting. 
An  amendment  submitted  by  James  G.  Elaine  of  Maine,  providing  that  when 
Congress  should  have  approved  the  Constitution  of  any  State  conferring 
suffrage  in  accordance  with  the  Fourteenth  Amendment,  the  other  sections 
of  the  bill  should  become  inoperative,  was  rejected.  In  the  meantime  the 
Fourteenth  Amendment  had  been  rejected  by  all  the  seceding  States  except 
Tennessee.  The  Elaine  amendment,  offered  by  Sherman  in  the  Senate, 
was  accepted  by  that  house,  and  the  amended  bill  passed,  February  16,  by 
a  vote  of  29  to  10.  On  the  igth  the  House,  by  a  vote  of  73  to  98,  refused 
to  concur,  but  the  next  day  receded  from  its  disagreement,  and  concurred 
in  the  amendments  of  the  Senate,  with  the  addition  of  amendments  embrac 
ing  section  6  and  the  proviso  of  section  5  of  the  act  as  passed.  The  bill  was 
vetoed  by  President  Johnson  March  2,  but  was  promptly  passed  over  the 
veto  the  same  day,  the  vote  in  the  House  being  138  to  51,  3  not  voting, 
and  in  the  Senate  35  to  u.  An  act  of  January  22  had  provided  "for  the 
meeting  of  the  fortieth  and  all  succeeding  Congresses  immediately  after  the 
adjournment  of  the  preceding  Congress,"  while  another  act  of  February  21 
directed  the  clerk  of  the  House  to  include  in  the  roll  of  representatives  for 
the  next  Congress  members  from  those  States  only  which  had  been  repre 
sented  in  the  preceding  Congress.  A  joint  resolution  of  March  30  appro 
priated  $500,000  for  the  expenses  of  executing  the  various  reconstruction  acts. 
REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  £7.5.  Statutes  at  Large,  XIV.,  428,  429.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  39th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Globe.  The  bill  reported  February  6  is  the  same  as  the  act  as  passed, 
except  the  fifth  and  sixth  sections,  which  were  added  as  amendments.  For 
the  texts  of  the  more  important  resolutions  on  reconstruction,  with  the  action 
upon  them,  see  McPherson,  Reconstruction,  109-114,  183-187.  Johnson's 
message  of  July  20,  1867,  transmitting  a  report  of  a  cabinet  meeting,  is  in 
Richardson,  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents,  VI.,  527-531.  The  docu 
mentary  literature  is  extensive.  The  report  of  the  Joint  Committee  on  Recon 
struction  is  House  Report  30,  39th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.  On  the  early  disturb 
ances  in  the  South  see  House  Exec.  Doc.  96  and  House  Report  101,  39th  Cong., 
ist  Sess.;  House  Exec.  Docs.  61,  68,  and  72  and  House  Report  16,  39th  Cong., 
2d  Sess.  The  most  important  orders,  etc.,  relating  to  military  reconstruction, 
are  in  Senate  Exec.  Doc.  14,  4oth  Cong.,  ist  Sess.;  see  also  Senate  Exec.  Doc. 
14,  and  Senate  Report  14,  38th  Cong.,  ist  Sess. ;  House  Report  23,  39th  Cong., 


502  FIRST   RECONSTRUCTION  ACT  [March  2 

2d  Sess.;  House  Exec.  Doc.  342,  4oth  Cong.,  26  Sess.  The  State  constitu 
tions  of  the  reconstruction  period  are  in  Poore,  Charters  and  Constitutions. 
On  political  conditions  see  House  Exec.  Doc.  131,  Senate  Exec.  Doc.  43,  Sen 
ate  Misc.  Doc.  62,  and  Senate  Report  112,  3Qth  Cong.,  ist  Sess.;  House  Exec. 
Docs.  20  and  34  and  House  Misc.  Docs.  29  and  53,  4oth  Cong.,  ist  Sess.; 
House  Exec.  Docs.  53  and  276  and  Senate  Exec.  Doc.  53,  4oth  Cong.,  2d  Sess. ; 
Senate  Exec.  Doc.  13,  4ist  Cong.,  2d  Sess.  On  the  constitutional  ques 
tion  see  particularly  Mississippi  v.  Johnson,  4  Wallace,  475;  Georgia  v. 
Stanton,  6  ibid.,  51;  Texas  v.  White,  7  ibid.,  200. 

An  Act  to  provide  for  the  more  efficient  Government  of  the  Rebel 

States. 

WHEREAS  no  legal  State  governments  or  adequate  protection 
for  life  or  property  now  exists  in  the  rebel  States  of  Virginia, 
North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Mississippi,  Alabama, 
Louisiana,  Florida,  Texas,  and  Arkansas;  and  whereas  it  is 
necessary  that  peace  and  good  order  should  be  enforced  in  said 
States  until  loyal  and  republican  State  governments  can  be 
legally  established:  Therefore, 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  said  rebel  States  shall  be  divided 
into  military  districts  and  made  subject  to  the  military  author 
ity  of  the  United  States  as  hereinafter  prescribed,  and  for  that 
purpose  Virginia  shall  constitute  the  first  district;  North  Caro 
lina  and  South  Carolina  the  second  district;  Georgia,  Alabama, 
and  Florida  the  third  district;  Mississippi  and  Arkansas  the 
fourth  district ;  and  Louisiana  and  Texas  the  fifth  district. 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of 
the  President  to  assign  to  the  command  of  each  of  said  districts 
an  officer  of  the  army,  not  below  the  rank  of  brigadier-general, 
and  to  detail  a  sufficient  military  force  to  enable  such  officer  to 
perform  his  duties  and  enforce  his  authority  within  the  district 
to  which  he  is  assigned. 

SEC.  3.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  it  shall  be  the  duty 
of  each  officer  assigned  as  aforesaid,  to  protect  all  persons  in 
their  rights  of  person  and  property,  to  suppress  insurrection, 
disorder,  and  violence,  and  to  punish,  or  cause  to  be  punished, 
all  disturbers  of  the  public  peace  and  criminals;  and  to  this 
end  he  may  allow  local  civil  tribunals  to  take  jurisdiction  of 
and  to  try  offenders,  or,  when  in  his  judgment  it  may  be 
necessary  for  the  trial  of  offenders,  he  shall  have  power  to 


1 867]  FIRST   RECONSTRUCTION  ACT  503 

organize  military  commissions  or  tribunals  for  that  purpcse, 
and  all  interference  under  color  of  State  authority  with  the 
exercise  of  military  authority  under  this  act,  shall  be  null  and 
void. 

SEC.  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  all  persons  put  under 
military  arrest  by  virtue  of  this  act  shall  be  tried  without  un 
necessary  delay,  and  no  cruel  or  unusual  punishment  shall  be 
inflicted,  and  no  sentence  of  any  military  commission  or  tribu 
nal  hereby  authorized,  affecting  the  life  or  liberty  of  any  person, 
shall  be  executed  until  it  is  approved  by  the  officer  in  command 
of  the  district,  and  the  laws  and  regulations  for  the  government 
of  the  army  shall  not  be  affected  by  this  act,  except  in  so  far  as 
they  conflict  with  its  provisions:  Provided,  That  no  sentence 
of  death  under  the  provisions  of  this  act  shall  be  carried  into 
effect  without  the  approval  of  the  President. 

SEC.  5.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  when  the  people  of 
any  one  of  said  rebel  States  shall  have  formed  a  constitution  of 
government  in  conformity  with  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  in  all  respects,  framed  by  a  convention  of  delegates 
elected  by  the  male  citizens  of  said  State,  twenty-one  years  old 
and  upward,  of  whatever  race,  color,  or  previous  condition,  who 
have  been  resident  in  said  State  for  one  year  previous  to  the 
day  of  such  election,  except  such  as  may  be  disfranchised  for 
participation  in  the  rebellion  or  for  felony  at  common  law,  and 
when  such  constitution  shall  provide  that  the  elective  franchise 
shall  be  enjoyed  by  all  such  persons  as  have  the  qualifications 
herein  stated  for  electors  of  delegates,  and  when  such  constitu 
tion  shall  be  ratified  by  a  majority  of  the  persons  voting  on  the 
question  of  ratification  who  are  qualified  as  electors  for  delegates, 
and  when  such  constitution  shall  have  been  submitted  to  Con 
gress  for  examination  and  approval,  and  Congress  shall  have 
approved  the  same,  and  when  said  State,  by  a  vote  of  its  legis 
lature  elected  under  said  constitution,  shall  have  adopted  the 
amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  proposed 
by  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress,  and  known  as  article  fourteen, 
and  when  said  article  shall  have  become  a  part  of  the  Consti 
tution  of  the  United  States  said  State  shall  be  declared  entitled 
to  representation  in  Congress,  and  senators  and  representatives 
shall  be  admitted  therefrom  on  their  taking  the  oath  prescribed 


504  TENURE   OF   OFFICE   ACT  [March  2 

by  law,  and  then  and  thereafter  the  preceding  sections  of  this 
act  shall  be  inoperative  in  said  State:  Provided,  That  no  person 
excluded  from  the  privilege  of  holding  office  by  said  proposed 
amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  shall  be 
eligible  to  election  as  a  member  of  the  convention  to  frame  a 
constitution  for  any  of  said  rebel  States,  nor  shall  any  such 
person  vote  for  members  of  such  convention. 

SEC.  6.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That,  until  the  people  of 
said  rebel  States  shall  be  by  law  admitted  to  representation  in 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  any  civil  governments  which 
may  exist  therein  shall  be  deemed  provisional  only,  and  in  all 
respects  subject  to  the  paramount  authority  of  the  United  States 
at  any  time  to  abolish,  modify,  control,  or  supersede  the  same; 
and  in  all  elections  to  any  office  under  such  provisional  govern 
ments  all  persons  shall  be  entitled  to  vote,  and  none  others, 
who  are  entitled  to  vote,  under  the  provisions  of  the  fifth  sec 
tion  of  this  act;  and  no  persons  shall  be  eligible  to  any  office 
under  any  such  provisional  governments  who  would  be  dis 
qualified  from  holding  office  under  the  provisions  of  the  third 
article  of  said  constitutional  amendment. 


No.  150.    Tenure  of  Office  Act 

March  2,  1867 

A  BILL  "to  regulate  the  tenure  of  offices"  was  introduced  in  the  Senate 
December  3,  1866,  the  first  day  of  the  session,  by  George  H.  Williams  of 
Oregon,  and  referred  to  the  Joint  Select  Committee  on  Retrenchment.  On 
the  loth  a  substitute  amendment  was  reported  by  George  F.  Edmunds  of  Ver 
mont,  who  also  offered  the  next  day  a  further  amendment,  being  the  last  five 
sections  of  the  act.  The  amended  bill  passed  the  Senate  on  the  i8th  by  a 
vote  of  29  to  9,  14  not  voting.  The  House,  by  a  vote  of  82  to  63,  46  not  vot 
ing,  added  an  amendment  striking  out  the  clause  excepting  cabinet  officers 
from  the  operation  of  the  act,  the  vote  on  the  passage  of  the  amended  bill 
being  in  to  38,  42  not  voting.  The  Senate  refused  to  concur,  but  the  insist 
ence  of  the  House  on  its  principal  amendment  forced  the  Senate  to  agree  to 
the  compromise  contained  in  the  first  section  of  the  act.  The  report  of  the 
conference  committee  was  accepted  by  the  Senate  February  18,  by  a  vote  of 
22  to  10,  and  by  the  House  the  following  day  by  a  vote  of  112  to  41,  37  not 
voting.  March  2  the  bill  was  vetoed  by  President  Johnson,  but  was  passed 
over  the  veto  the  same  day,  the  vote  in  the  Senate  being  35  to  n,  6  not  vot- 


1867]  TENURE   OF   OFFICE  ACT  505 

ing,  and  in  the  House  138  to  51,  3  not  voting.  Sections  i  and  2  of  the 
act  were  repealed  by  an  act  of  April  5,  1869,  and  the  remainder  by  an  act  of 
March  3,  1887. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XIV.,  430-432.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  39th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Globe.  See  also  Senate  Exec.  Doc.  9,  4oth  Cong.,  Special  Sess. 

An  Act  regulating  the  Tenure  of  certain  Civil  Offices. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  every  person  holding  any  civil 
office  to  which  he  has  been  appointed  by  and  with  the  advice 
and  consent  of  the  Senate,  and  every  person  who  shall  here 
after  be  appointed  to  any  such  office,  and  shall  become  duly 
qualified  to  act  therein,  is,  and  shall  be  entitled  to  hold  such 
office  until  a  successor  shall  have  been  in  like  manner  appointed 
and  duly  qualified,  except  as  herein  otherwise  provided:  Pro 
vided,  That  the  Secretaries  of  State,  of  the  Treasury,  of  War, 
of  the  Navy,  and  of  the  Interior,  the  Postmaster-General,  and 
the  Attorney- General,  shall  hold  their  offices  respectively  for 
and  during  the  term  of  the  President  by  whom  they  may  have 
been  appointed  and  for  one  month  thereafter,  subject  to  removal 
by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate. 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  when  any  officer 
appointed  as  aforesaid,  excepting  judges  of  the  United  States 
courts,  shall,  during  a  recess  of  the  Senate,  be  shown,  by  evi 
dence  satisfactory  to  the  President,  to  be  guilty  of  misconduct 
in  office,  or  crime,  or  for  any  reason  shall  become  incapable  or 
legally  disqualified  to  perform  its  duties,  in  such  case,  and  in 
no  other,  the  President  may  suspend  such  officer  and  designate 
some  suitable  person  to  perform  temporarily  the  duties  of  such 
office  until  the  next  meeting  of  the  Senate,  and  until  the  case 
shall  be  acted  upon  by  the  Senate  .  .  .  ;  and  in  such  case  it 
shall  be  the  duty  of  the  President,  within  twenty  days  after  the 
first  day  of  such  next  meeting  of  the  Senate,  to  report  to  the 
Senate  such  suspension,  with  the  evidence  and  reasons  for  his 
action  in  the  case,  and  the  name  of  the  person  so  designated  to 
perform  the  duties  of  such  office.  And  if  the  Senate  shall 
concur  in  such  suspension  and  advise  and  consent  to  the 
removal  of  such  officer,  they  shall  so  certify  to  the  President, 
who  may  thereupon  remove  such  officer,  and,  by  and  with  the 
advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  appoint  another  person  to  such 


500  TENURE   OF   OFFICE  ACT  [March  2 

office.  But  if  the  Senate  shall  refuse  to  concur  in  such  sus 
pension,  such  officer  so  suspended  shall  forthwith  resume  the 
functions  of  his  office,  and  the  powers  of  the  person  so  perform 
ing  its  duties  in  his  stead  shall  cease,  and  the  official  salary  and 
emoluments  of  such  officer  shall,  during  such  suspension,  belong 
to  the  person  so  performing  the  duties  thereof,  and  not  to  the 
officer  so  suspended.  .  .  . 

SEC.  3.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  President  shall 
have  power  to  fill  all  vacancies  which  may  happen  during  the 
recess  of  the  Senate,  by  reason  of  death  or  resignation,  by  grant 
ing  commissions  which  shall  expire  at  the  end  of  their  next  ses 
sion  thereafter.  And  if  no  appointment,  by  and  with  the  advice 
and  consent  of  the  Senate,  shall  be  made  to  such  office  so  vacant 
or  temporarily  filled  as  aforesaid  during  such  next  session  of  the 
Senate,  such  office  shall  remain  in  abeyance,  without  any  salary, 
fees,  or  emoluments  attached  thereto,  until  the  same  shall  be 
filled  by  appointment  thereto,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  con 
sent  of  the  Senate;  and  during  such  time  all  the  powers  and 
duties  belonging  to  such  office  shall  be  exercised  by  such  other 
officer  as  may  by  law  exercise  such  powers  and  duties  in  case 
of  a  vacancy  in  such  office. 

SEC.  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  nothing  in  this  act 
contained  shall  be  construed  to  extend  the  term  of  any  office 
the  duration  of  which  is  limited  by  law. 

SEC.  5.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  if  any  person  shall, 
contrary  to  the  provisions  of  this  act,  accept  any  appointment 
to  or  employment  in  any  office,  or  shall  hold  or  exercise  or  at 
tempt  to  hold  or  exercise,  any  such  office  or  employment,  he 
shall  be  deemed,  and  is  hereby  declared  to  be,  guilty  of  a  high 
misdemeanor,  and,  upon  trial  and  conviction  thereof,  he  shall 
be  punished  therefor  by  a  fine  not  exceeding  ten  thousand  dol 
lars,  or  by  imprisonment  not  exceeding  five  years,  or  both  said 
punishments,  in  the  discretion  of  the  court. 

SEC.  6.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  every  removal,  appoint 
ment,  or  employment,  made,  had,  or  exercised,  contrary  to  the 
provisions  of  this  act,  and  the  making,  signing,  sealing,  counter 
signing,  or  issuing  of  any  commission  or  letter  of  authority  for 
or  in  respect  to  any  such  appointment  or  employment,  shall  be 
deemed,  and  are  hereby  declared  to  be,  high  misdemeanors, 


1867]  COMMAND    OF  THE  ARMY  507 

and,  upon  trial  and  conviction  thereof,  every  person  guilty 
thereof  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  not  exceeding  ten  thousand 
dollars,  or  by  imprisonment  not  exceeding  five  years,  or  both 
said  punishments,  in  the  discretion  of  the  court.  .  .  . 


No.  151.    Command  of  the  Army 

March  2,  1867 

SECTION  2  of  the  army  appropriation  act  of  March  2,  1867,  virtually 
deprived  the  President,  in  certain  cases,  of  the  command  of  the  army.  The 
constitutionality  of  the  provision  was  debated  at  some  length,  but  an  amend 
ment  offered  in  the  Senate  February  26,  by  Reverdy  Johnson  of  Maryland,  to 
strike  out  the  section  was  lost  by  a  vote  of  8  to  28,  and  other  motions  to  the 
same  effect  failed  of  support.  Sections  5  and  6  were  added  to  the  bill  by 
the  Senate.  President  Johnson  approved  the  bill  in  order  not  to  defeat  the 
appropriations,  but  he  entered  his  protest  against  the  army  provision.  The 
section  relating  to  the  militia  was  repealed  by  acts  of  January  14  and  March 
3,  1869. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XIV.,  486,  487.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  39th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  and 
the  Cong.  Globe.  The  important  discussion  was  in  the  Senate. 

An  Act  making  appropriations  for  the  support  of  the  army  for  the 
year  ending  .  .  .  [June  30,  1868]  .  .  .  ,  and  for  other  purposes. 

******** 
SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  headquarters  of 
the  General  of  the  army  of  the  United  States  shall  be  at  the 
city  of  Washington,  and  all  orders  and  instructions  relating  to 
military  operations  issued  by  the  President  or  Secretary  of  War 
shall  be  issued  through  the  General  of  the  army,  and,  in  case 
of  his  inability,  through  the  next  in  rank.  The  General  of  the 
army  shall  not  be  removed,  suspended,  or  relieved  from  com 
mand,  or  assigned  to  duty  elsewhere  than  at  said  headquarters, 
except  at  his  own  request,  without  the  previous  approval  of  the 
Senate;  and  any  orders  or  instructions  relating  to  military 
operations  issued  contrary  to  the  requirements  of  this  section 
shall  be  null  and  void;  and  any  officer  who  shall  issue  orders 
or  instructions  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  this  section  shall  be 


508  SECOND   RECONSTRUCTION  ACT  [March  23 

deemed  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor  in  office;  and  any  officer  of 
the  army  who  shall  transmit,  convey,  or  obey  any  orders  or 
instructions  so  issued  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  this  section, 
knowing  that  such  orders  were  so  issued,  shall  be  liable  to  im 
prisonment  for  not  less  than  two  nor  more  than  twenty  years, 
upon  conviction  thereof  in  any  court  of  competent  jurisdiction. 
******** 


No.  152.    Second  Reconstruction  Act 

March  23,  1867 

BY  a  resolution  of  March  7,  1867,  the  House  Committee  on  the  Judiciary 
were  instructed  "to  report  a  bill  declaring  who  shall  call  conventions  for  the 
reorganization  of  the  rebel  States,  and  providing  for  the  registration  of  voters 
within  said  rebel  States,  and  all  elections  for  members  of  said  conventions,  or 
for  the  adoption  or  rejection  of  constitutions  formed  by  said  conventions,  or 
for  the  choice  of  public  officers,  State  and  municipal,  until  the  constitutions  of 
said  States  shall  have  been  approved  by  Congress,  shall  be  by  ballot."  A  bill 
in  accordance  with  the  resolution  was  reported  March  n,  and  passed  the 
same  day,  the  vote  being  117  to  27,  16  not  voting.  The  Senate  Committee 
on  the  Judiciary  reported  a  substitute,  which,  with  further  amendments, 
passed  that  body  on  the  i6th  by  a  vote  of  38  to  2.  To  the  bill  as  thus  amended 
the  House  added  further  amendments,  the  principal  of  which  required  the 
approval  by  a  majority  of  the  registered  voters  of  the  constitution  submitted 
for  ratification.  The  bill  received  its  final  form  from  a  conference  committee. 
March  23  President  Johnson  vetoed  the  bill,  but  it  was  passed  over  the  veto 
the  same  day,  in  the  House  by  a  vote  of  114  to  25,  25  not  voting,  and  in  the 
Senate  by  a  vote  of  40  to  7. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XV.,  2-4.  For  the  pro 
ceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  4oth  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Globe.  The  texts  of  the  numerous  amendments  submitted  are  in  the 
Globe. 

An  Act  supplementary  to  an  Act  entitled  "An  Act  to  provide  for 
the  more  efficient  Government  of  the  Rebel  States  "  passed  .  .  . 
[March  2,  1867]  .  .  .  ,  and  to  facilitate  Restoration. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  before  .  .  .  [September  i,  1867]  .  .  .  , 
the  commanding  general  in  each  district  defined  by  ...  [the  act 
of  March  2,  1867]  •  •  •  >  sna^  cause  a  registration  to  be  made 
of  the  male  citizens  of  the  United  States,  twenty-one  years  of  age 


1867]  SECOND   RECONSTRUCTION  ACT  509 

and  upwards,  resident  in  each  county  or  parish  in  the  State  or 
States  included  in  his  district,  which  registration  shall  include 
only  those  persons  wrho  are  qualified  to  vote  for  delegates  by  the 
act  aforesaid,  and  who  shall  have  taken  and  subscribed  the  follow 
ing  oath  or  affirmation:  "I,—  — ,  do  solemnly  swear  (or 
affirm),  in  the  presence  of  Almighty  God,  that  I  am  a  citizen  of 

the  State  of ;    that  I  have  resided  in  said  State  for — 

months  next  preceding  this  day,  and  now  reside  in  the  county  of 

— ,  or  the  parish  of ,  in  said  State  (as  the  case  may  be) ; 

that  I  am  twenty-one  years  old;  that  I  have  not  been  disfran 
chised  for  participation  in  any  rebellion  or  civil  war  against  the 
United  States,  or  for  felony  committed  against  the  laws  of  any 
State  or  of  the  United  States;  that  I  have  never  been  a  member 
of  any  State  legislature,  nor  held  any  executive  or  judicial  office 
in  any  State,  and  afterwards  engaged  in  insurrection  or  rebellion 
against  the  United  States,  or  given  aid  or  comfort  to  the  enemies 
thereof ;  that  I  have  never  taken  an  oath  as  a  member  of  Congress 
of  the  United  States,  or  as  an  officer  of  the  United  States,  or  as  a 
member  of  any  State  legislature,  or  as  an  executive  or  judicial 
officer  of  any  State,  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  afterwards  engaged  in  insurrection  or  rebellion  against 
the  United  States,  or  given  aid  or  comfort  to  the  enemies  thereof ; 
that  I  will  faithfully  support  the  Constitution  and  obey  the  laws 
of  the  United  States,  and  will,  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  encour 
age  others  so  to  do,  so  help  me  God."  .  .  . 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  after  the  completion 
of  the  registration  hereby  provided  for  in  any  State,  at  such 
time  and  places  therein  as  the  commanding  general  shall  appoint 
and  direct,  of  which  at  least  thirty  days'  public  notice  shall  be 
given,  an  election  shall  be  held  of  delegates  to  a  convention  for 
the  purpose  of  establishing  a  constitution  and  civil  government 
for  such  State  loyal  to  the  Union,  said  convention  in  each  State, 
except  Virginia,  to  consist  of  the  same  number  of  members  as 
the  most  numerous  branch  of  the  State  legislature  of  such  State 
...  [in  1860]  .  .  .  ,  to  be  apportioned  among  the  several  dis 
tricts,  counties,  or  parishes  of  such  State  by  the  commanding 
general,  giving  to  each  representation  in  the  ratio  of  voters  regis 
tered  as  aforesaid  as  nearly  as  may  be.  The  convention  in  Vir 
ginia  shall  consist  of  the  same  number  of  members  as  represented 


510  SECOND   RECONSTRUCTION  ACT  [March  24 

the  territory  now  constituting  Virginia  in  the  most  numerous 
branch  of  the  legislature  of  said  State  ...  [in  1860]  .  .  .  ,  to  be 
apportioned  as  aforesaid. 

SEC.  3.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  at  said  election  the 
registered  voters  of  each  State  shall  vote  for  or  against  a  con 
vention  to  form  a  constitution  therefor  under  this  act.  ...  If 
a  majority  of  the  votes  given  on  that  question  shall  be  for  a 
convention,  then  such  convention  shall  be  held  as  hereinafter 
provided;  but  if  a  majority  of  said  votes  shall  be  against  a 
convention,  then  no  such  convention  shall  be  held  under  this 
act:  Provided,  That  such  convention  shall  not  be  held  unless  a 
majority  of  all  such  registered  voters  shall  have  voted  on  the 
question  of  holding  such  convention. 

SEC.  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  commanding 
general  of  each  district  shall  appoint  as  many  boards  of  regis 
tration  as  may  be  necessary,  consisting  of  three  loyal  officers  or 
persons,  to  make  and  complete  the  registration,  superintend  the 
election,  and  make  return  to  him  of  the  votes,  lists  of  voters, 
and  of  the  persons  elected  as  delegates  by  a  plurality  of  the 
votes  cast  at  said  election;  and  upon  receiving  said  returns  he 
shall  open  the  same,  ascertain  the  persons  elected  as  delegates, 
according  to  the  returns  of  the  officers  who  conducted  said 
election,  and  make  proclamation  thereof;  and  if  a  majority  of 
the  votes  given  on  that  question  shall  be  for  a  convention,  the 
commanding  general,  within  sixty  days  from  the  date  of  election, 
shall  notify  the  delegates  to  assemble  in  convention,  at  a  time 
and  place  to  be  mentioned  in  the  notification,  and  said  con 
vention,  when  organized,  shall  proceed  to  frame  a  constitution 
and  civil  government  according  to  the  provisions  of  this  act, 
and  the  act  to  which  it  is  supplementary;  and  when  the  same 
shall  have  been  so  framed,  said  constitution  shall  be  submitted 
by  the  convention  for  ratification  to  the  persons  registered  under 
the  provisions  of  this  act  at  an  election  to  be  conducted  by  the 
officers  or  persons  appointed  or  to  be  appointed  by  the  com 
manding  general,  as  hereinbefore  provided,  and  to  be  held  after 
the  expiration  of  thirty  days  from  the  date  of  notice  thereof,  to 
be  given  by  said  convention;  and  the  returns  thereof  shall  be 
made  to  the  commanding  general  of  the  district. 

SEC.  5.   And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  if,  according  to  said 


1807]  CESSION   OF  ALASKA  511 

returns,  the  constitution  shall  be  ratified  by  a  majority  of  the 
votes  of  the  registered  electors  qualified  as  herein  specified, 
cast  at  said  election,  at  least  one  half  of  all  the  registered  voters 
voting  upon  the  question  of  such  ratification,  the  president  of 
the  convention  shall  transmit  a  copy  of  the  same,  duly  certi 
fied,  to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  who  shall  forthwith 
transmit  the  same  to  Congress  .  .  .  ;  and  if  it  shall  moreover 
appear  to  Congress  that  the  election  was  one  at  which  all  the 
registered  and  qualified  electors  in  the  State  had  an  opportunity 
to  vote  freely  and  without  restraint,  fear,  or  the  influence  of  fraud, 
and  if  the  Congress  shall  be  satisfied  that  such  constitution  meets 
the  approval  of  a  majority  of  all  the  qualified  electors  in  the 
State,  and  if  the  said  constitution  shall  be  declared  by  Congress 
to  be  in  conformity  with  the  provisions  of  the  act  to  which  this  is 
supplementary,  and  the  other  provisions  of  said  act  shall  have 
been  complied  with,  and  the  said  constitution  shall  be  approved 
by  Congress,  the  State  shall  be  declared  entitled  to  representation, 
and  senators  and  representatives  shall  be  admitted  therefrom  as 
therein  provided. 


No.   153.     Treaty  with  Russia  for  the  Ces 
sion  of  Alaska 

March  30,  1867 

BY  the  fourth  article  of  the  treaty  of  1824  between  the  United  States  and 
Russia,  it  was  agreed  that  for  ten  years  the  vessels  of  both  powers  might  fish 
and  trade  in  the  interior  waters  on  the  northwest  coast  of  North  America, 
both  north  and  south  of  54°  40'.  Negotiations  for  the  continuance  of  the 
agreement  failed,  and  the  encroachments  of  American  seamen  in  Russian  ter 
ritory  were  from  time  to  time  the  subject  of  diplomatic  correspondence.  The 
friendly  behavior  of  Russia  towards  the  United  States  during  the  Civil  War, 
though  joined,  doubtless,  with  an  unwillingness  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States  to  see  the  power  of  Russia  in  North  America  increase,  led  to  an  accept 
ance  of  the  offer  of  Russia  to  sell  Alaska.  The  treaty  was  communicated  to 
the  Senate  July  16,  1867,  and  the  formal  transfer  of  the  territory  was  made 
October  18.  Copies  of  the  treaty  and  correspondence  were  laid  before  the 
House  February  17,  1868.  The  debate  in  the  House  raised  the  question  of 
the  constitutional  relation  of  the  House  to  treaties  involving  the  appropria- 


512  CESSION    OF   ALASKA  [March  30 

tion  of  money.  The  preamble  of  the  bill  making  the  appropriation,  as  it 
passed  the  House,  asserted  that  the  consent  of  that  body  was  necessary  to  the 
ratification  of  such  treaties.  The  Senate  refused  to  accept  the  bill  in  that 
form,  and  the  preamble  was  modified.  The  appropriation  bill  became  law 
July  27.  Another  act  of  the  same  date  extended  the  laws  of  the  United 
States  relating  to  customs,  commerce,  and  navigation  over  Alaska,  and  estab 
lished  it  as  a  collection  district. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XV.,  539-543.  For  the 
documents  and  correspondence  see  Senate  Exec.  Doc.  17,  4oth  Cong.,  ist 
Sess.;  House  Exec.  Docs.  125  and  177,  4oth  Cong.,  2d  Sess.  Banks's  report 
in  favor  of  ratification  is  House  Report  37,  4oth  Cong.,  2d  Sess.  For  the 
House  proceedings  see  the  Cong.  Globe,  4oth  Cong.,  2d  Sess. 


ARTICLE  I. 

His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  all  the  Russias  agrees  to  cede 
to  the  United  States  ...  all  the  territory  and  dominion  now 
possessed  by  his  said  Majesty  on  the  continent  of  America  and 
in  the  adjacent  islands,  the  same  being  contained  within  the  geo 
graphical  limits  herein  set  forth,  to  wit:  The  eastern  limit  is  the 
line  of  demarcation  between  the  Russian  and  the  British  posses 
sions  in  North  America,  as  established  by  the  convention  between 
Russia  and  Great  Britain,  of  February  28-16,  1825,  and  described 
in  Articles  III  and  IV  of  said  convention,  in  the  following  terms: 

"  Commencing  from  the  southernmost  point  of  the  island 
called  Prince  of  Wales  Island,  which  point  lies  in  the  parallel 
of  54  degrees  40  minutes  north  latitude,  and  between  the  1315! 
and  1 33d  degree  of  west  longitude,  (meridian  of  Greenwich,) 
the  said  line  shall  ascend  to  the  north  along  the  channel  called 
Portland  Channel,  as  far  as  the  point  of  the  continent  where  it 
strikes  the  56th  degree  of  north  latitude;  from  this  last-men 
tioned  point,  the  line  of  demarcation  shall  follow  the  summit  of 
the  mountains  situated  parallel  to  the  coast,  as  far  as  the  point 
of  intersection  of  the  141  st  degree  of  west  longitude,  (of  the 
same  meridian;)  and  finally,  from  the  said  point  of  intersection, 
the  said  meridian  line  of  the  i4ist  degree,  in  its  prolongation  as 
far  as  the  Frozen  Ocean. 

"IV.  With  reference  to  the  line  of  demarcation  laid  down  in 
the  preceding  article,  it  is  understood  — 

"ist.   That   the  island  called   Prince   of   Wales   Island   shall 


1867]  CESSION   OF  ALASKA  513 

belong  wholly  to  Russia,"  (now,  by  this  cession  to  the  United 
States.) 

U2d.  That  whenever  the  summit  of  the  mountains  which 
extend  in  a  direction  parallel  to  the  coast  from  the  56th  degree 
of  north  latitude  to  the  point  of  intersection  of  the  i4ist  degree 
of  west  longitude  shall  prove  to  be  at  the  distance  of  more  than 
ten  marine  leagues  from  the  ocean,  the  limit  between  the  British 
possessions  and  the  line  of  coast  which  is  to  belong  to  Russia 
as  above  mentioned,  (that  is  to  say,  the  limit  to  the  possessions 
ceded  by  this  convention,)  shall  be  formed  by  a  line  parallel 
to  the  winding  of  the  coast,  and  which  shall  never  exceed  the 
distance  of  ten  marine  leagues  therefrom." 

The  western  limit  within  which  the  territories  and  dominion 
conveyed  are  contained  passes  through  a  point  in  Behring's 
Straits  on  the  parallel  of  sixty-five  degrees  thirty  minutes  north 
latitude,  at  its  intersection  by  the  meridian  which  passes  midway 
between  the  islands  of  Krusenstern  or  Ignalook,  and  the  island 
of  Ratmanoff,  or  Noonarbook,  and  proceeds  due  north  without 
limitation,  into  the  same  Frozen  Ocean.  The  same  western 
limit,  beginning  at  the  same  initial  point,  proceeds  thence  in  a 
course  nearly  southwest,  through  Behring's  Straits  and  Behring's 
Sea,  so  as  to  pass  midway  between  the  northwest  point  of  the 
island  of  St.  Lawrence  and  the  southeast  point  of  Cape  Chou- 
kotski,  to  the  meridian  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-two  west 
longitude;  thence,  from  the  intersection  of  that  meridian,  in  a 
southwesterly  direction,  so  as  to  pass  midway  between  the  island 
of  Attou  and  the  Copper  Island  of  the  Kormandorski  couplet  or 
group,  in  the  North  Pacific  Ocean,  to  the  meridian  of  one  hun 
dred  and  ninety-three  degrees  west  longitude,  so  as  to  include 
in  the  territory  conveyed  the  whole  of  the  Aleutian  Islands  east 
of  that  meridian. 

******  *  * 

ARTICLE  III. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  ceded  territory,  according  to  their 
choice,  reserving  their  natural  allegiance,  may  return  to  Russia 
within  three  years;  but  if  they  should  prefer  to  remain  in  the 
ceded  territory,  they,  with  the  exception  of  uncivilized  native 
tribes,  shall  be  admitted  to  the  enjoyment  of  all  the  rights,  advan- 

2L 


514  THIRD    RECONSTRUCTION   ACT  [July  i$ 

tages,  and  immunities  of  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  shall 
be  maintained  and  protected  in  the  free  enjoyment  of  their 
liberty,  property,  and  religion.  The  uncivilized  tribes  will  be 
subject  to  such  laws  and  regulations  as  the  United  States  may 
from  time  to  time  adopt  in  regard  to  aboriginal  tribes  of  that 

country. 

******** 

ARTICLE  VI. 

In  consideration  of  the  cession  aforesaid,  the  United  States 
agree  to  pay  at  the  Treasury  in  Washington,  within  ten  months 
after  the  exchange  of  the  ratifications  of  this  convention,  to  the 
diplomatic  representative  or  other  agent  of  His  Majesty  the 
Emperor  of  all  the  Russias,  duly  authorized  to  receive  the  same, 
seven  million  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  gold.  .  .  . 

********! 


No.   154.    Third  Reconstruction  Act 

July  19,  1867 

THE  difficulties  encountered  by  the  military  commanders  in  enforcing  the 
acts  of  March  2  and  23,  1867,  especially  in  regard  to  the  oath  prescribed  in 
the  second  of  the  two  acts,  led  to  the  issue  on  June  20,  through  the  Adjutant 
General's  office,  and  with  the  approval  of  all  the  members  of  the  Cabinet  ex 
cept  Stanton,  of  instructions  setting  forth  the  view  of  the  Executive  as  to  the 
meaning  and  scope  of  the  acts  in  question.  From  the  standpoint  of  Congress, 
the  instructions  were  a  serious  limitation  on  the  effectiveness  of  the  acts. 
A  bill  to  interpret  and  give  effect  to  the  reconstruction  acts  of  March  2 
and  23  was  reported  in  the  Senate  July  8,  by  Trumbull  of  Illinois,  from 
the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  but  was  laid  aside  on  the  nth  in  favor 
of  a  bill  of  similar  purport  which  had  passed  the  House.  The  Senate  then 
substituted  its  own  bill  for  the  House  bill,  the  bill  in  this  form  passing  by 
a  vote  of  32  to  6.  The  bill  received  its  final  form  from  a  conference  com 
mittee.  July  IQ  President  Johnson  vetoed  the  bill,  but  it  was  at  once  passed 
over  the  veto,  in  the  House  by  a  vote  of  109  to  25,  37  not  voting,  and  in  the 
Senate  by  a  vote  of  30  to  6.  A  joint  resolution  of  the  same  date  appropriated 
$1,000,000  to  carry  into  effect  the  reconstruction  acts. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XV.,  14-16.  For  the  pro 
ceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  40th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  and  fhe 

1  Signed:  "William  H.  Seward,  Edouard  de  Stoeckl."  —  ED. 


1867]  THIRD   RECONSTRUCTION   ACT  515 

Cong.  Globe.  For  the  opinions  of  Attorney  General  Stanbery,  May  24  and 
June  12,  see  Senate  Exec.  Doc.  14,  4oth  Cong.,  ist  Sess.  The  executive  in 
structions  of  June  20  are  in  Richardson,  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presi 
dents,  VI.,  552-556. 

An  Act  supplementary  to  an  Act  entitled  "An  Act  to  provide  for 
the  more  efficient  Government  of  the  Rebel  States"  passed  .  .  . 
[March  2,  1867]  .  .  .  ,  and  the  Act  supplementary  thereto,  passed 
.  .  .  [March  23,  1867]. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  it  is  hereby  declared  to  have  been 
the  true  intent  and  meaning  ...  [of  the  acts  of  March  2  and 
March  23,  1867]  .  .  .  ,  that  the  governments  then  existing  in 
the  rebel  States  of  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina, 
Georgia,  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Louisiana,  Florida,  Texas,  and 
Arkansas  were  not  legal  State  governments;  and  that  thereafter 
said  governments,  if  continued,  were  to  be  continued  subject 
in  all  respects  to  the  military  commanders  of  the  respective 
districts,  and  to  the  paramount  authority  of  Congress. 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  commander  of  any 
district  named  in  said  act  shall  have  power,  subject  to  the  dis 
approval  of  the  General  of  the  army  of  the  United  States,  and 
to  have  effect  till  disapproved,  whenever  in  the  opinion  of  such 
commander  the  proper  administration  of  said  act  shall  require 
it,  to  suspend  or  remove  from  office,  or  from  the  performance  of 
official  duties  and  the  exercise  of  official  powers,  any  officer  or 
person  holding  or  exercising,  or  professing  to  hold  or  exercise, 
any  civil  or  military  office  or  duty  in  such  district  under  any 
power,  e^ction,  appointment  or  authority  derived  from,  or 
granted  by,  or  claimed  under,  any  so-called  State  or  the  govern 
ment  thereof,  or  any  municipal  or  other  division  thereof,  and 
upon  such  suspension  or  removal  such  commander,  subject  to 
the  disapproval  of  the  General  as  aforesaid,  shall  have  power  to 
provide  from  time  to  time  for  the  performance  of  the  said  duties 
of  such  officer  or  person  so  suspended  or  removed,  by  the  detail 
of  some  competent  officer  or  soldier  of  the  army,  or  by  the  ap 
pointment  of  some  other  person,  to  perform  the  same,  and  to 
fill  vacancies  occasioned  by  death,  resignation,  or  otherwise. 

SEC.  3.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  General  of  the 
army  of  the  United  States  shall  be  invested  with  all  the  powers 


516  THIRD   RECONSTRUCTION   ACT  [July  19 

of  suspension,  removal,  appointment,  and  detail  granted  in  the 
preceding  section  to  district  commanders. 

SEC.  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  acts  of  the  officers 
of  the  army  already  done  in  removing  in  said  districts  persons 
exercising  the  functions  of  civil  officers,  and  appointing  others 
in  their  stead,  are  hereby  confirmed:  Provided,  That  any  person 
heretofore  or  hereafter  appointed  by  any  district  commander  to 
exercise  the  functions  of  any  civil  office,  may  be  removed  either 
by  the  military  officer  in  command  of  the  district,  or  by  the 
General  of  the  army.  And  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  such  com 
mander  to  remove  from  office  as  aforesaid  all  persons  who  are 
disloyal  to  the  government  of  the  United  States,  or  who  use' 
their  official  influence  in  any  manner  to  hinder,  delay,  prevent, 
or  obstruct  the  due  and  proper  administration  of  this  act  and 
the  acts  to  which  it  is  supplementary. 

SEC.  5.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  boards  of  regis 
tration  provided  for  in  the  act  ...  [of  March  23,  1867]  .  .  .  , 
shall  have  power,  and  it  shall  be  their  duty  before  allowing  the 
registration  of  any  person,  to  ascertain,  upon  such  facts  or 
information  as  they  can  obtain,  whether  such  person  is  entitled 
to  be  registered  under  said  act,  and  the  oath  required  by  said 
act  shall  not  be  conclusive  on  such  question,  and  no  person 
shall  be  registered  unless  such  board  shall  decide  that  he  is 
entitled  thereto;  and  such  board  shall  also  have  power  to  exam 
ine,  under  oath,  .  .  .  any  one  touching  the  qualification  of  any 
person  claiming  registration;  but  in  every  case  of  refusal  by  the 
board  to  register  an  applicant,  and  in  every  case  of  striking  his 
name  from  the  list  as  hereinafter  provided,  the  board  shall  make  a 
note  or  memorandum,  which  shall  be  returned  with  the  registra 
tion  list  to  the  commanding  general  of  the  district,  setting  forth 
the  grounds  of  such  refusal  or  such  striking  from  the  list:  Pro 
vided,  That  no  person  shall  be  disqualified  as  member  of  any 
board  of  registration  by  reason  of  race  or  color. 

SEC.  6.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  true  intent  and 
meaning  of  the  oath  prescribed  in  said  supplementary  act  is, 
(among  other  things,)  that  no  person  who  has  been  a  member 
of  the  legislature  of  any  State,  or  who  has  held  any  executive 
or  judicial  office  in  any  State,  whether  he  has  taken  an  oath  to 
support  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  or  not,  and  whether 


1867]  THIRD   RECONSTRUCTION  ACT  517 

he  was  holding  such  office  at  the  commencement  of  the  rebeL 
lion,  or  had  held  it  before,  and  who  has  afterwards  engaged  in 
insurrection  or  rebellion  against  the  United  States,  or  given  aid 
or  comfort  to  the  enemies  thereof,  is  entitled  to  be  registered 
or  to  vote;  and  the  words  "executive  or  judicial  office  in  any 
State"  in  said  oath  mentioned  shall  be  construed  to  include  all 
civil  offices  created  by  law  for  the  administration  of  any  general 
law  of  a  State,  or  for  the  administration  of  justice. 

SEC.  7.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  time  for  complet 
ing  the  original  registration  provided  for  in  said  act  may,  in  the 
discretion  of  the  commander  of  any  district,  be  extended  to  ... 
[October  i,  1867]  .  .  .  ;  and  the  boards  of  registration  shall 
have  power,  and  it  shall  be  their  duty,  commencing  fourteen  days 
prior  to  any  election  under  said  act,  and  upon  reasonable  public 
notice  of  the  time  and  place  thereof,  to  revise,  for  a  period  of 
five  days,  the  registration  lists,  and  upon  being  satisfied  that  any 
person  not  entitled  thereto  has  been  registered,  to  strike  the  name 
of  such  person  from  the  list,  and  such  person  shall  not  be  allowed 
to  vote.  And  such  board  shall  also,  during  the  same  period,  add 
to  such  registry  the  names  of  all  persons  who  at  that  time  possess 
the  qualifications  required  by  said  act  who  have  not  been  already 
registered;  and  no  person  shall,  at  any  time,  be  entitled  to 
be  registered  or  to  vote  by  reason  of  any  executive  pardon  or 
amnesty  for  any  act  or  thing  which,  without  such  pardon  or 
amnesty,  would  disqualify  him  from  registration  or  voting. 

SEC.  8.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  section  four  of  said 
last-named  act  shall  be  construed  to  authorize  the  commanding 
general  named  therein,  whenever  he  shall  deem  it  needful,  to 
remove  any  member  of  a  board  of  registration  and  to  appoint 
another  in  his  stead,  and  to  fill  any  vacancy  in  such  board. 

SEC.  9.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  all  members  of  said 
boards  of  registration  and  all  persons  hereafter  elected  or  ap 
pointed  to  office  in  said  military  districts,  under  any  so-called 
State  or  municipal  authority,  or  by  detail  or  appointment  of  the 
district  commanders,  shall  be  required  to  take  and  to  subscribe 
the  oath  of  office  prescribed  by  law  for  officers  of  the  United  States. 

SEC.  10.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  no  district  com 
mander  or  member  of  the  board  of  registration,  or  any  of 
the  officers  or  appointees  acting  under  them,  shall  be  bound 


518  ARTICLES    OF    IMPEACHMENT  [March  2/3 

in  his  action  by  any  opinion  of  any  civil  officer  of  the  United 
States. 

SEC.  n.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  all  provisions  of  this 
act  and  of  the  acts  to  which  this  is  supplementary  shall  be  con 
strued  liberally,  to  the  end  that  all  the  intents  thereof  may  be 
fully  and  perfectly  carried  out. 


No.  155.     Articles  of  Impeachment 

March  2-3,  1868 

DECEMBER  17,  1866,  James  M.  Ashley  of  Ohio  moved  in  the  House  to 
suspend  the  rules  for  the  purpose  of  reporting  from  the  Committee  on  Terri 
tories  a  resolution  for  the  appointment  of  a  select  committee  "to  inquire 
whether  any  acts  have  been  done  by  any  officer  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  which,  in  contemplation  of  the  Constitution,  are  high  crimes  or 
misdemeanors,  and  whether  said  acts  were  designed  or  calculated  to  over 
throw,  subvert,  or  corrupt  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  or  any  de 
partment  thereof."  The  vote  was  90  to  49,  but  two-thirds  being  necessary, 
the  motion  was  lost.  January  7,  1867,  resolutions  for  the  impeachment  of 
President  Johnson  wrere  offered  by  Benjamin  F.  Loan  and  John  R.  Kelso  of 
Missouri,  and  referred,  respectively,  to  the  Committee  on  Reconstruction 
and  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary.  On  the  same  day  Ashley,  as  a  question 
of  privilege,  impeached  Johnson  of  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors,  charging 
him  "with  a  usurpation  of  power  and  violation  of  law"  in  having  corruptly 
used  the  powers  of  appointment,  pardon,  and  veto,  "corruptly  disposed  of 
public  property  of  the  United  States,"  and  "corruptly  interfered  in  elections, 
and  committed  acts  which,  in  contemplation  of  the  Constitution,  are  high 
crimes  and  misdemeanors."  By  a  vote  of  108  to  39  the  charges  were  re 
ferred  to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  for  investigation.  February  28  the 
committee  reported  that,  from  lack  of  time,  it  had  reached  no  conclusion. 
March  7  a  resolution  submitted  by  Ashley  directed  the  continuance  of 
the  investigation,  and  on  the  29th,  on  motion  of  Sidney  Clarke  of  Kansas,  the 
committee  was  requested  to  report  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  House  after  the 
recess.  November  25  George  S.  Boutwell  of  Massachusetts  submitted  the 
majority  report  of  the  committee.  The  report  closed  with  a  resolution  that 
the  President  "be  impeached  for  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors."  Decem 
ber  7,  by  a  vote  of  57  to  108,  the  resolution  was  disagreed  to.  The  evidence 
taken  by  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  together  with  the  correspondence 
between  Johnson  and  Grant,  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Reconstruction. 
February  21,  1868,  Stanton  communicated  to  the  House  Johnson's  order 
removing  him  from  the  office  of  Secretary  of  War;  this,  with  a  resolution  for 
the  impeachment  of  the  President,  was  also  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
Reconstruction.  On  the  22d  the  committee  reported  a  resolution  recom- 


i868]  ARTICLES   OF   IMPEACHMENT  519 

mending  impeachment,  which  was  agreed  to  on  the  24th  by  a  vote  of  1 28  to  47. 
Committees  were  appointed  to  prepare  the  articles  of  impeachment  and  tc 
notify  the  Senate.  The  action  of  the  House  was  communicated  to  the  Senate 
on  the  25th.  Nine  articles  of  impeachment  were  agreed  to  by  the  House 
March  2,  two  additional  articles  being  approved  the  following  day.  On  the 
4th  the  articles  were  read  to  the  Senate,  and  on  the  6th  an  order  was  entered 
directing  the  issuance  of  a  summons  to  the  President  to  file  an  answer  to  the 
charges,  the  order  being  made  returnable  March  13.  A  request  for  more 
time  in  which  to  prepare  an  answer  secured  an  extension  to  the  23d.  On 
that  date  the  answer  of  the  President  was  read.  A  request  for  thirty  days  in 
which  to  complete  preparations  for  the  trial  was  denied,  the  vote  being  12  to 
41.  The  trial  began  March  30,  Chief  Justice  Chase  presiding,  and  continued 
until  May  1 2.  May  16  a  vote  was  taken  on  Article  XI.  of  the  charges.  The 
vote  was  35  "guilty,"  19  "not  guilty."  Votes  on  Articles  II.  and  III.,  May 
26,  showed  the  same  result,  whereupon  the  court,  by  a  vote  of  34  to  16, 
adjourned  sine  die.  Judgment  of  acquittal  was  entered  on  the  three  articles 
on  which  a  vote  was  taken. 

For  convenience,  the  votes  on  the  adoption  of  the  several  articles  are 
given  in  brackets  after  each  article  in  the  text  following. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  House  Journal,  40th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  440-465. 
For  the  proceedings  prior  to  the  trial  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals  and 
the  Cong.  Globe;  for  the  trial  see  the  Senate  Journal,  Appendix,  and  the  Cong. 
Globe,  Supplement.  The  report  of  November  25,  1867,  is  House  Report  7, 
4Oth  Cong.,  ist  Sess.  On  the  Stanton-Grant  episode  see  House  Exec.  Docs. 
57,  149,  168  and  183,  40th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.  Extracts  from  Johnson's  inter 
views  and  speeches  are  given  in  McPherson,  Reconstruction,  44-63,  127-143. 
The  early  impeachment  testimony  is  in  House  Report  7,  4oth  Cong.,  ist  Sess.; 
for  the  articles  and  fuller  testimony  see  House  Misc.  Doc.  91,  4oth  Cong., 
2d  Sess.  On  the  conduct  of  the  impeachment  see  House  Reports  74  and  75, 
Senate  Report  59,  and  Senate  Misc.  Doc.  43,  4oth  Cong.,  2d  Sess.  See  also 
De  Witt,  Impeachment  and  Trial  of  Andrew  Johnson;  Foster,  Commentaries 
on  the  Constitution,  I.,  546-564. 

ARTICLE  I.  That  said  Andrew  Johnson,  President  of  the 
United  States,  on  .  .  .  [February  21,  1868]  .  .  .  ,  at  Washington, 
in  the  District  of  Columbia,  unmindful  of  the  high  duties  of  his 
office,  of  his  oath  of  office,  and  of  the  requirement  of  the  Consti 
tution  that  he  should  take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed, 
did  unlawfully,  and  in  violation  of  the  Constitution  and  laws  of 
the  United  States,  issue  an  order  in  writing  for  the  removal  of 
Edwin  M.  Stanton  from  the  office  of  Secretary  for  the  Department 
of  War,  said  Edwin  M.  Stanton  having  been  theretofore  duly 
appointed  and  commissioned,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent 
of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  as  such  Secretary,  and  said 
Andrew  Johnson,  President  of  the  United  States,  on  ...  [August 


520  ARTICLES   OF   IMPEACHMENT  [March  2/3 

12,  1867]  .  .  .  ,  and  during  the  recess  of  said  Senate,  having 
suspended  by  his  order  Edwin  M.  Stanton  from  said  office,  and 
within  twenty  days  after  the  first  day  of  the  next  meeting  of  said 
Senate,  that  is  to  say,  on  the  twelfth  day  of  December  in  the  year 
last  aforesaid,  having  reported  to  said  Senate  such  suspension 
with  the  evidence  and  reasons  for  his  action  in  the  case  and  the 
name  of  the  person  designated  to  perform  the  duties  of  such  office 
temporarily  until  the  next  meeting  of  the  Senate,  and  said  Senate 
thereafterwards  on  ...  [January  13,  1868]  .  .  .  ,  having  duly 
considered  the  evidence  and  reasons  reported  by  said  Andrew 
Johnson  for  said  suspension,  and  having  refused  to  concur  in 
said  suspension,  whereby  and  by  force  of  the  provisions  of  ... 
[the  Tenure  of  Office  Act]  .  .  .  ,  said  Edwin  M.  Stanton  did 
forthwith  resume  the  functions  of  his  office,  whereof  the  said 
Andrew  Johnson  had  then  and  there  due  notice,  and  said  Edwin 
M.  Stanton,  by  reason  of  the  premises,  on  said  twenty-first  day 
of  February,  being  lawfully  entitled  to  hold  said  office  of  Secretary 
for  the  Department  of  War,  which  said  order  for  the  removal 
of  said  Edwin  M.  Stanton  is  in  substance  as  follows,  that  is  to  say: 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 
Washington,  D.C.,  February  21,  1868. 

SIR:  By  virtue  of  the  power  and  authority  vested  in  me  as  President  by 
the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States,  you  are  hereby  removed  from 
office  as  Secretary  for  the  Department  of  War,  and  your  functions  as  such  will 
terminate  upon  receipt  of  this  communication. 

You  will  transfer  to  Brevet  Major  General  Lorenzo  Thomas,  Adjutant 
General  of  the  army,  who  has  this  day  been  authorized  and  empowered  to 
act  as  Secretary  of  War  ad  interim,  all  records,  books,  papers,  and  other  pub 
lic  property  now  in  your  custody  and  charge. 

Respectfully,  yours,  ANDREW    JOHNSON. 

To  the  Hon.  EDWIN  M.  STANTON,  Washington,  D.C. 

Which  order  was  unlawfully  issued  with  intent  then  and  there 
to  violate  .  .  .  [the  Tenure  of  Office  Act]  .  .  .  ,  and  with  the 
further  intent,  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  said  act,  in  violation 
thereof,  and  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  and  without  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States,  the  said  Senate  then  and  there  being  in  session, 
to  remove  said  Edwin  M.  Stanton  from  the  office  of  Secretary 


i868]  ARTICLES   OF   IMPEACHMENT  521 

for  the  Department  of  War,  the  said  Edwin  M.  Stanton  being 
then  and  there  Secretary  for  the  Department  of  War,  and  being 
then  and  there  in  the  due  and  lawful  execution  and  discharge  of 
the  duties  of  said  office,  whereby  said  Andrew  Johnson,  President 
of  the  United  States,  did  then  and  there  commit  and  was  guilty  of 
a  high  misdemeanor  in  office. 

[Agreed  to,  127  to  42,  20  not  voting.] 

ARTICLE  II.  That  on  said  twenty-first  day  of  February  .  .  . 
[1868]  .  .  .  ,  at  Washington,  .  .  .  said  Andrew  Johnson  .  .  .  , 
unmindful  of  the  high  duties  of  his  office,  of  his  oath  of  office, 
and  in  violation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and 
contrary  to  the  provisions  of  ...  [the  Tenure  of  Office  Act] 
.  .  .  ,  without  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  said  Senate  then  and  there  being  in  session,  and  without 
authority  of  law,  did,  with  intent  to  violate  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  and  the  act  aforesaid,  issue  and  deliver  to  one 
Lorenzo  Thomas  a  letter  of  authority  in  substance  as  follows, 
that  is  to  say: 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 
Washington,  D.C.,  February  21,  1868. 

SIR:  The  Hon.  Edwin  M.  Stanton  having  been  this  day  removed  from 
office  as  Secretary  for  the  Department  of  War,  you  are  hereby  authorized  and 
empowered  to  act  as  Secretary  of  War  ad  interim,  and  will  immediately  enter 
upon  the  discharge  of  the  duties  pertaining  to  that  office. 

Mr.  Stanton  has  been  instructed  to  transfer  to  you  all  the  records,  books, 
papers,  and  other  public  property  now  in  his  custody  and  charge. 

Respectfully,  yours,  ANDREW    JOHNSON. 

To  Brevet  Major  General  LORENZO  THOMAS, 
Adjutant  General  U.S.  Army,  Washington,  D.C. 

Then  and  there  being  no  vacancy  in  said  office  of  Secretary 
for  the  Department  of  War,  whereby  said  Andrew  Johnson, 
President  of  the  United  States,  did  then  and  there  commit  and 
was  guilty  of  a  high  misdemeanor  in  office. 

[Agreed  to,  124  to  41,  24  not  voting.] 

ARTICLE  III.  That  said  Andrew  Johnson,  ...  [on  February 
21,  1868]  .  .  .  ,  at  Washington,  .  .  .  did  commit  and  was  guilty 
of  a  high  misdemeanor  in  office  in  this,  that,  without  authority 
of  law,  while  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  was  then  and  there 


522  ARTICLES    OF   IMPEACHMENT  [March  f,'\ 

in  session,  he  did  appoint  one  Lorenzo  Thomas  to  be  Secretary 
for  the  Department  of  War  ad  interim,  without  the  advice  and 
consent  of  the  Senate,  and  with  intent  to  violate  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  no  vacancy  having  happened  in  said  office 
of  Secretary  for  the  Department  of  War  during  the  recess  of  the 
Senate,  and  no  vacancy  existing  in  said  office  at  the  time.  .  .  . 

[Agreed  to,  124  to  40,  25  not  voting.] 

ARTICLE  IV.  That  said  Andrew  Johnson,  ...  [on  February 
21,  1868]  .  .  .  ,  at  Washington,  .  .  .  did  unlawfully  conspire 
with  one  Lorenzo  Thomas,  and  with  other  persons  to  the  House 
of  Representatives  unknown,  with  intent,  by  intimidation  and 
threats,  unlawfully  to  hinder  and  prevent  Edwin  M.  Stanton, 
then  and  there  the  Secretary  for  the  Department  of  War,  duly 
appointed  under  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  from  holding 
said  office  of  Secretary  for  the  Department  of  War,  contrary  to 
and  in  violation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  of 
the  provisions  of  ...  [the  Conspiracy  Act  of  July  31,  1861]. 

[Agreed  to,   127  to  42,   20  not  voting.] 

ARTICLE  V.  That  said  Andrew  Johnson,  ...  [on  February 
21,  1868]  .  .  .  ,  and  on  divers  other  days  and  times  in  said  year 
.  .  .  [before  March  2,  1868]  .  .  .  ,  at  Washington,  .  .  .  did  un 
lawfully  conspire  with  one  Lorenzo  Thomas,  and  with  other  par 
sons  to  the  House  of  Representatives  unknown,  to  prevent  and 
hinder  the  execution  of  ...  [the  Tenure  of  Office  Act]  .  .  .  , 
and  in  pursuance  of  said  conspiracy  did  unlawfully  attempt  to 
prevent  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  then  and  there  being  Secretary  for 
the  Department  of  War,  duly  appointed  and  commissioned  under 
the  laws  of  the  United  States,  from  holding  said  office  .  .  . 

[Agreed  to,  127  to  42,  20  not  voting.] 

ARTICLE  VI.  That  said  Andrew  Johnson,  ...  [on  February 
21,  1868]  .  .  .  ,  at  Washington,  .  .  .  did  unlawfully  conspire 
with  one  Lorenzo  Thomas,  by  force  to  seize,  take,  and  possess 
the  property  of  the  United  States  in  the  Department  of  War,  and 
then  and  there  in  the  custody  and  charge  of  Edwin  M.  Stanton, 
Secretary  for  said  department,  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  ... 
[the  act  of  July  31,  1861]  .  .  .  ,  and  with  intent  to  violate  and 
disregard  .  .  .  [the  Tenure  of  Office  Act]  .  .  . 

[Agreed  to,  127  to  42,  20  not  voting.] 

ARTICLE  VII.   That  said  Andrew  Johnson,  .  .  .  [on  February 


i£68]  ARTICLES    OF   IMPEACHMENT  523 

21,  1868]  .  .  .  ,  at  Washington,  .  .  .  did  unlawfully  conspire 
with  one  Lorenzo  Thomas  with  intent  unlawfully  to  seize,  take, 
and  possess  the  property  of  the  United  States  in  the  Department 
of  War,  in  the  custody  and  charge  of  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  Secretary 
for  said  department,  with  intent  to  violate  and  disregard  .  .  . 
[the  Tenure  of  Office  Act]  .  .  . 

[Agreed  to,   127  to  42,  20  not  voting.] 

ARTICLE  VIII.  That  said  Andrew  Johnson,  .  .  .  with  intent 
unlawfully  to  control  the  disbursements  of  the  moneys  appro 
priated  for  the  military  service  and  for  the  Department  of 
War,  ...  [on  February  21,  1868]  .  .  .  ,  at  Washington,  .  .  . 
did  unlawfully  and  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  ...  [the  Tenure 
of  Office  Act]  .  .  .  ,  and  in  violation  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  and  without  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States,  and  while  the  Senate  was  then  and  there 
in  session,  there  being  no  vacancy  in  the  office  of  Secretary  for 
the  Department  of  War,  and  with  intent  to  violate  and  disregard 
the  act  aforesaid,  then  and  there  issue  and  deliver  to  one  Lorenzo 
Thomas  a  letter  of  authority  in  writing,  in  substance  as  follows, 
that  is  to  say: 

[Here  follows  the  letter  of  appointment  as  in  Article  II.] 

[Agreed  to,  127  to  42,  20  not  voting.] 

ARTICLE  IX.  That  said  Andrew  Johnson,  .  .  .'[on  February 
22,1868].  .  .  ,  at  Washington, .  .  .  in  disregard  of  the  Constitution 
and  the  laws  of  the  United  States  duly  enacted,  as  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  army  of  the  United  States,  did  bring  before  himself 
then  and  there  William  H.  Emory,  a  major  general  by  brevet 
in  the  army  of  the  United  States,  actually  in  command  of  the 
department  of  Washington  and  the  military  forces  thereof,  and 
did  then  and  there,  as  such  commander-in-chief,  declare  to  and 
instruct  said  Emory  that  part  of  ...  [the  Army  Appropriation 
Act  of  March  2,  1867]  .  .  .  ,  especially  the  second  section  thereof, 
.  .  .  was  unconstitutional,  and  in  contravention  of  the  commis 
sion  of  said  Emory,  and  which  said  provision  of  law  had  been 
theretofore  duly  and  legally  promulgated  by  General  Order  for 
the  government  and  direction  of  the  army  of  the  United  States, 
as  the  said  Andrew  Johnson  then  and  there  well  knew,  with  intent 
thereby  to  induce  said  Emory  in  his  official  capacity  as  commander 
of  the  department  of  Washington  to  violate  the  provisions  of  said 


524  ARTICLES    OF   IMPEACHMENT  [March  2/3 

act,  and  to  take  and  receive,  act  upon,  and  obey  such  orders  as  he, 
the  said  Andrew  Johnson,  might  make  and  give,  and  which  should 
not  be  issued  through  the  General  of  the  army  of  the  United  States, 
according  to  the  provisions  of  said  act,  and  with  the  further  intent 
thereby  to  enable  him,  the  said  Andrew  Johnson,  to  prevent 
the  execution  of  ...  [the  Tenure  of  Office  Act]  .  .  .  ,  and  to 
unlawfully  prevent  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  then  being  Secretary  for 
the  Department  of  War,  from  holding  said  office  and  discharg 
ing  the  duties  thereof  .  .  . 

[Agreed  to,  108  to  4:.  40  not  voting.] 

ARTICLE  X.  That  said  Andrew  Johnson,  .  .  .  unmindful  of 
the  high  duties  of  his  office  and  the  dignity  and  proprieties  thereof, 
and  of  the  harmony  and  courtesies  which  ought  to  exist  and  be 
maintained  between  the  executive  and  legislative  branches  of  the 
government  of  the  United  States,  designing  and  intending  to  set 
aside  the  rightful  authority  and  powers  of  Congress,  did  attempt 
to  bring  into  disgrace,  ridicule,  hatred,  contempt,  and  reproach 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  the  several  branches  thereof, 
to  impair  and  destroy  the  regard  and  respect  of  all  the  good  people 
of  the  United  States  for  the  Congress  and  legislative  power 
thereof,  (which  all  officers  of  the  government  ought  inviolably 
to  preserve  and  maintain,)  and  to  excite  the  odium  and  resent 
ment  of  all  the  good  people  of  the  United  States  against  Con 
gress  and  the  laws  by  it  duly  and  constitutionally  enacted ;  and  in 
pursuance  of  his  said  design  and  intent  openly  and  publicly,  and 
before  divers  assemblages  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States 
convened  in  divers  parts  thereof  to  meet  and  receive  said 
Andrew  Johnson  as  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  United  States, 
did,  .  .  .  [on  August  18,  1866]  .  .  .  ,  and  on  divers  other  days 
and  times,  as  well  before  as  afterward,  make  and  deliver  with  a 
loud  voice  certain  intemperate,  inflammatory  and  scandalous 
harangues,  and  did  therein  utter  loud  threats  and  bitter  menaces 
as  well  against  Congress  as  the  laws  of  the  United  States  duly 
enacted  thereby,  amid  the  cries,  jeers,  and  laughter  of  the  mul 
titudes  then  assembled  and  in  hearing,  which  are  set  forth  in 
the  several  specifications  hereinafter  written,  in  substance  and 
effect,  that  is  to  say: 

SPECIFICATION  FIRST.  In  this,  that  at  Washington,  ...  in 
the  Executive  Mansion,  to  a  committee  of  citizens  who  called 


i868]  ARTICLES    OF    IMPEACHMENT  525 

upon  the  President  of  the  United  States,  speaking  of  and  con 
cerning  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  said  Andrew  Johnson, 
.  .  .  [on  August  1 8,  1866]  .  .  .   ,  did,  in  a  loud  voice,  declare  in 
substance  and  effect,  among  other  things,  that  is  to  say: 
******** 

"We  have  witnessed  in  one  department  of  the  government 
every  endeavor  to  prevent  the  restoration  of  peace,  harmony, 
and  union.  We  have  seen  hanging  upon  the  verge  of  the  gov 
ernment,  as  it  were,  a  body  called,  or  which  assumes  to  be,  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  while  in  fact  it  is  a  Congress  of 
only  a  part  of  the  States.  We  have  seen  this  Congress  pretend 
to  be  for  the  Union,  when  its  every  step  and  act  tended  to  per 
petuate  disunion  and  make  a  disruption  of  the  States  inevitable. 
*.*  *  \ye  have  seen  Congress  gradually  encroach,  step  by 
step,  upon  constitutional  rights,  and  violate,  day  after  day  and 
month  after  month,  fundamental  principles  of  the  government. 
We  have  seen  a  Congress  that  seemed  to  forget  that  there  was 
a  limit  to  the  sphere  and  scope  of  legislation.  We  have  seen  a 
Congress  in  a  minority  assume  to  exercise  power  which,  allowed 
to  be  consummated,  would  result  in  despotism  or  monarchy 
itself." 

SPECIFICATION  SECOND.  In  this,  that  at  Cleveland,  ...  [on 
September  3,  1866]  .  .  .  ,  before  a  public  assemblage  of  citizens 
and  others,  said  Andrew  Johnson,  .  .  .  speaking  of  and  con 
cerning  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  did,  in  a  loud  voice, 
declare  in  substance  and  effect,  among  other  things,  that  is  to  say : 

"I  will  tell  you  what  I  did  do.  I  called  upon  your  Congress 
that  is  trying  to  break  up  the  government." 

******** 

"In  conclusion,  beside  that,  Congress  had  taken  much  pains 
to  poison  their  constituents  against  him.  But  what  had  Con 
gress  done?  Have  they  done  anything  to  restore  the  union  of 
these  States?  No;  on  the  contrary,  they  had  done  everything 
to  prevent  it ;  and  because  he  stood  now  where  he  did  when  the 
rebellion  commenced,  he  had  been  denounced  as  a  traitor.  Who 
had  run  greater  risks  or  made  greater  sacrifices  than  himself? 
But  Congress,  factious  and  domineering,  had  undertaken  to 
poison  the  minds  of  the  American  people." 


526  ARTICLES   OF   IMPEACHMENT  [March  2/j 

SPECIFICATION  THIRD.  In  this,  that  at  St.  Louis,  .  .  .  [on 
September  8,  1866]  .  .  .  ,  before  a  public  assemblage  of  citizens 
and  others,  said  Andrew  Johnson,  .  .  .  speaking  of  and  con 
cerning  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  did,  in  a  loud  voice, 
declare,  in  substance  and  effect,  among  other  things,  that  is  to 
say: 

"Go  on.  Perhaps  if  you  had  a  word  or  two  on  the  subject  of 
New  Orleans  you  might  understand  more  about  it  than  you  do. 
And  if  you  will  go  back  —  if  you  will  go  back  and  ascertain  the 
cause  of  the  riot  at  New  Orleans  perhaps  you  will  not  be  so 
prompt  in  calling  out  'New  Orleans.'  If  you  will  take  up  the 
riot  at  New  Orleans  and  trace  it  back  to  its  source  or  its  imme 
diate  cause,  you  will  find  out  who  was  responsible  for  the  blood 
that  was  shed  there.  If  you  will  take  up  the  riot  at  New 
Orleans  and  trace  it  back  to  the  radical  Congress,  you  will  find 
that  the  riot  at  New  Orleans  was  substantially  planned.  If  you 
will  take  up  the  proceedings  in  their  caucuses  you  will  under 
stand  that  they  there  knew  that  a  convention  was  to  be  called 
which  was  extinct  by  its  power  having  expired;  that  it  was  said 
that  the  intention  was  that  a  new  government  was  to  be  organ 
ized,  and  on  the  organization  of  that  government  the  intention 
was  to  enfranchise  one  portion  of  the  population,  called  the  col 
ored  population,  who  had  just  been  emancipated,  and  at  the 
same  time  disfranchise  white  men.  When  you  design  to  talk 
about  New  Orleans  you  ought  to  understand  what  you  are  talk 
ing  about.  When  you  read  the  speeches  that  were  made,  and 
take  up  the  facts  on  the  Friday  and  Saturday  before  that  con 
vention  sat,  you  will  there  find  that  speeches  were  made  incen 
diary  in  their  character,  exciting  that  portion  of  the  population, 
the  black  population,  to  arm  themselves  and  prepare  for  the 
shedding  of  blood.  You  will  also  find  that  that  convention  did 
assemble  in  violation  of  law,  and  the  intention  of  that  conven 
tion  was  to  supersede  the  reorganized  authorities  in  the  State 
government  of  Louisiana,  which  had  been  recognized  by  the 
government  of  the  United  States;  and  every  man  engaged  in 
that  rebellion  in  that  convention,  with  the  intention  of  supersed 
ing  and  upturning  the  civil  government  which  had  been  recog 
nized  by  the  government  of  the  United  States,  I  say  that  he  was 
a  traitor  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  hence  you 


1868]  ARTICLES   OF  IMPEACHMENT  527 

find  that  another  rebellion  was  commenced,  having  its  origin  in 

the  radical  Congress. 

******** 

"So  much  for  the  New  Orleans  riot.  And  there  was  the 
cause  and  the  origin  of  the  blood  that  was  shed;  and  every 
drop  of  blood  that  was  shed  is  upon  their  skirts  and  they  are 
responsible  for  it.  I  could  test  this  thing  a  little  closer,  but 
will  not  do  it  here  to-night.  But  when  you  talk  about  the 
causes  and  consequences  that  resulted  from  proceedings  of  that 
kind,  perhaps,  as  I  have  been  introduced  here,  and  you  have 
provoked  questions  of  this  kind,  though  it  does  not  provoke 
me,  I  will  tell  you  a  few  wholesome  things  that  have  been 
done  by  this  radical  Congress  in  connection  with  New  Orleans 
and  the  extension  of  the  elective  franchise. 

"I  know  that  I  have  been  traduced  and  abused.  I  know  it 
has  come  in  advance  of  me  here  as  elsewhere  —  that  I  have 
attempted  to  exercise  an  arbitrary  power  in  resisting  laws  that 
were  intended  to  be  forced  upon  the  government;  that  I  had 
exercised  that  power;  that  I  had  abandoned  the  party  that 
elected  me,  and  that  I  was  a  traitor,  because  I  exercised  the 
veto  power  in  attempting  and  did  arrest  for  a  time  a  bill  that 
was  called  a  'Freedman's  Bureau'  bill;  yes,  that  I  was  a 
traitor.  And  I  have  been  traduced,  I  have  been  slandered,  I 
have  been  maligned,  I  have  been  called  Judas  Iscariot,  and  all 
that.  Now,  my  countrymen  here  to-night,  it  is  very  easy  to 
indulge  in  epithets;  it  is  easy  to  call  a  man  Judas,  and  cry  out 
traitor;  but  when  he  is  called  upon  to  give  arguments  and  facts 
he  is  very  often  found  wanting.  Judas  Iscariot  —  Judas.  There 
was  a  Judas,  and  he  was  one  of  the  twelve  apostles.  Oh  yes, 
the  twelve  apostles  had  a  Christ.  The  twelve  apostles  had  a 
Christ,  and  he  never  could  have  had  a  Judas  unless  he  had 
had  twelve  apostles.  If  I  have  played  the  Judas,  who  has 
been  my  Christ  that  I  have  played  the  Judas  with?  Was  it 
Thad.  Stevens?  Was  it  Wendell  Phillips?  Was  it  Charles 
Sumner?  These  are  the  men  that  stop  and  compare  them 
selves  with  the  Saviour;  and  everybody  that  differs  with  them 
in  opinion,  and  to  try  to  stay  and  arrest  their  diabolical  and 
nefarious  policy,  is  to  be  denounced  as  a  Judas." 

******  ## 


528  ARTICLES    OF   IMPEACHMENT  [March  2/3 

"Well,  let  me  say  to  you,  if  you  will  stand  by  me  in  this  action, 
if  you  will  stand  by  me  in  trying  to  give  the  people  a  fair  chance  — 
soldiers  and  citizens  —  to  participate  in  these  offices,  God  being 
willing,  I  will  kick  them  out.     I  will  kick  them  out  just  as  fast  as 
I  can. 

"Let  me  say  to  you,  in  concluding,  that  what  I  have  said  I 
intended  to  say.  I  was  not  provoked  into  this,  and  I  care  not 
for  their  menaces,  the  taunts,  and  the  jeers.  I  care  not  for  threats. 
I  do  not  intend  to  be  bullied  by  my  enemies  nor  overawed  by  my 
friends.  But  God  willing,  with  your  help,  I  will  veto  their  meas 
ures  whenever  any  of  them  come  to  me." 

Which  said  utterances,  declarations,  threats,  and  harangues, 
highly  censurable  in  any,  are  peculiarly  indecent  and  unbecoming 
in  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  United  States,  by  means  whereof 
said  Andrew  Johnson  has  brought  the  high  office  of  the  President 
of  the  United  States  into  contempt,  ridicule,  and  disgrace,  to  the 
great  scandal  of  all  good  citizens  .  .  . 

[Agreed  to,  88  to  44,  57  not  voting.] 

ARTICLE  XL  That  said  Andrew  Johnson,  .  .  .  unmindful 
of  the  high  duties  of  his  office  and  of  his  oath  of  office,  and  in  dis 
regard  of  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States,  did  .  .  . 
on  the  i8th  day  of  August,  1866,  at  the  city  of  Washington,  .  .  . 
by  public  speech,  declare  and  affirm,  in  substance,  that  the  thirty- 
ninth  Congress  of  the  United  States  was  not  a  Congress  of  the 
United  States  authorized  by  the  Constitution  to  exercise  legislative 
power  under  the  same;  but,  on  the  contrary,  was  a  Congress  of 
only  part  of  the  States,  thereby  denying  and  intending  to  deny  that 
the  legislation  of  said  Congress  was  valid  or  obligatory  upon  him, 
the  said  Andrew  Johnson,  except  in  so  far  as  he  saw  fit  to  approve 
the  same,  and  also  thereby  denying  and  intending  to  deny  the 
power  of  the  said  thirty-ninth  Congress  to  propose  amendments  to 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States;  and  in  pursuance  of  said 
declaration,  the  said  Andrew  Johnson,  .  .  .  afterward,  to  wit, 
on  the  2ist  day  of  February,  1868,  at  the  city  of  Washington,  .  .  . 
did  unlawfully  and  in  disregard  of  the  requirements  of  the  Con 
stitution,  that  he  should  take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  exe 
cuted,  attempt  to  prevent  the  execution  of  ...  [the  Tenure  of 
Office  Act]  .  .  .  ,  by  unlawfully  devising  and  contriving,  and 
attempting  to  devise  and  contrive,  means  by  which  he  should 


i868]  FOURTH  RECONSTRUCTON   ACT  529 

prevent  Edwin  M.  Stanton  from  forthwith  resuming  the  functions 
of  the  office  of  Secretary  for  the  Department  of  War,  notwithstand 
ing  the  refusal  of  the  Senate  to  concur  in  the  suspension  theretofore 
made  by  said  Andrew  Johnson  of  said  Edwin  M.  Stanton  from  said 
office  of  Secretary  for  the  Department  of  War,  and  also  by  further 
unlawfully  devising  and  contriving  and  attempting  to  devise  and 
contrive  means  then  and  there  to  prevent  the  execution  of  ... 
[the  Army  Appropriation  Act  of  March  2,  1867]  .  .  .  ,  and 
also  to  prevent  the  execution  of  ...  [the  Reconstruction  Act 
of  March  2,  1867]  .  .  . 

[Agreed  to,  109  to  32,  48  not  voting.] 


No.  156.    Fourth   Reconstruction  Act 

March  n,  1868 

A  BILL  "to  facilitate  the  restoration  of  the  late  rebel  States"  was  intro 
duced  in  the  House  December  5,  1867,  by  Ashley  of  Ohio,  and  referred  to 
the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary.  On  the  i8th  the  bill  was  withdrawn  in 
favor  of  a  bill  of  similar  purport,  substantially  identical  with  the  act  as  passed, 
brought  forward  by  Thaddeus  Stevens.  The  latter  bill  passed  the  House  the 
same  day  by  a  vote  of  104  to  37,  47  not  voting.  The  bill  was  not  at  once  con 
sidered  in  the  Senate.  The  rejection,  February  4,  1868,  of  the  proposed  con 
stitution  of  Alabama,  however,  when  "the  registered  voters  refrained  from 
voting  upon  the  question  of  ratification  in  sufficient  numbers  to  reduce  the 
vote  to  several  thousand  less  than  half  the  registration,"  hastened  action. 
A  substitute  for  the  House  bill  was  reported  February  17,  and  on  the  26th 
was  agreed  to,  the  vote  being  28  to  6.  The  House,  by  a  vote  of  96  to  32, 
6 1  not  voting,  concurred.  March  n  the  bill  became  law  by  the  ten  days 
rule. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XV.,  41 .  For  the  proceed 
ings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  4oth  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  and  the  Cong. 
Globe.  The  text  of  Ashley's  bill  is  in  the  Globe,  December  18,  House  pro 
ceedings.  On  elections  in  the  Southern  States  see  House  Exec.  Doc.  291, 
40th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.;  annual  report  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  1868. 

An  Act  to  amend  the  Act  ...  [of  March  23,  1867]  .  .  . 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  hereafter  any  election  authorized  by 
the  act:  [of  March  23, 1867]  .  .  .  ,  shall  be  decided  by  a  majority 
of  the  votes  actually  cast ;  and  at  the  election  in  which  the  question 

2M 


53°  RESTORATION    OF   ARKANSAS  [June  22 

of  the  adoption  or  rejection  of  any  constitution  is  submitted,  any 
person  duly  registered  in  the  State  may  vote  in  the  election  district 
where  he  offers  to  vote  when  he  has  resided  therein  for  ten  days 
next  preceding  such  election,  upon  presentation  of  his  certificate 
of  registration,  his  affidavit,  or  other  satisfactory  evidence,  under 
such  regulations  as  the  district  commanders  may  prescribe. 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  constitutional 
convention  of  any  of  the  States  mentioned  in  the  acts  to  which 
this  is  amendatory  may  provide  that  at  the  time  of  voting  upon 
the  ratification  of  the  constitution  the  registered  voters  may 
vote  also  for  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
United  States,  and  for  all  elective  officers  provided  for  by  the 
said  constitution;  and  the  same  election  officers  who  shall  make 
the  return  of  the  votes  cast  on  the  ratification  or  rejection  of 
the  constitution,  shall  enumerate  and  certify  the  votes  cast  for 
members  of  Congress. 


No.   157.     Act  admitting  Arkansas  to  Rep 
resentation  in  Congress 

June  22,  1868 

UNDER  Lincoln's  proclamation  of  December  8,  1863  [No.  137],  Arkansas 
formed  a  State  government,  but  its  representatives  were  refused  admittance 
by  Congress,  and  the  joint  resolution  of  February  8,  1865  [No.  140],  included 
the  State  in  the  list  of  those  whose  electoral  votes  should  not  be  counted. 
The  reconstruction  government  was,  however,  recognized  by  President  John 
son,  and  the  State  was  counted  in  the  list  of  those  whose  legislatures  had  rati 
fied  the  Thirteenth  Amendment.  The  first  reconstruction  act  of  March  2, 
1867  [No.  149],  placed  Arkansas  in  the  fourth  military  division,  and  the  re 
habilitation  of  the  State  proceeded  under  the  military  government.  The  nar 
row  majority  in  favor  of  the  ratification  of  the  State  constitution,  March  13, 
1868,  led  to  the  introduction  of  a  bill  to  admit  Arkansas  to  representation  in 
Congress.  The  bill  was  reported  in  the  House  May  7,  by  Thaddeus  Stevens, 
from  the  Joint  Committee  on  Reconstruction,  and  passed  the  next  day  by 
a  vote  of  no  to  32,  48  not  voting.  In  the  Senate  an  amendment  prohibiting 
the  abridgment  of  the  elective  franchise,  etc.,  on  account  of  race  or  color  was 
agreed  to,  June  i,  by  a  vote  of  26  to  14,  and  the  bill  passed,  the  final  vote  be 
ing  34  to  8.  The  House  refused  to  concur,  and  the  bill  received  its  final  form 
from  a  conference  committee.  The  report  of  the  committee  was  agreed  to  by 


i868]  RESTORATION    OF  ARKANSAS  531 

the  Senate  June  6,  and  by  the  House  June  8.  On  the  2oth  the  bill  was 
vetoed  by  President  Johnson,  but  was  passed  over  the  veto,  in  the  House  the 
same  day  by  a  vote  of  in  to  31,  48  not  voting,  and  in  the  Senate  June  22,  by 
a  vote  of  30  to  7.  Senators  from  the  State  qualified  June  23,  and  Repre 
sentatives  June  24. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XV.,  72.  For  the  pro 
ceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  4oth  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Globe.  On  the  election  in  Arkansas  see  House  Exec.  Doc.  278;  on 
the  ratification  of  the  Fourteenth  Amendment,  House  Misc.  Doc.  118, 
ibid. 

AN  ACT  to  admit  the  State  of  Arkansas  to  representation  in 

Congress. 

WHEREAS  the  people  of  Arkansas,  in  pursuance  of  the  pro 
visions  of  an  act  entitled  "  An  act  for  the  more  efficient  gov 
ernment  of  the  rebel  States,"  passed  March  second,  eighteen 
hundred  and  sixty-seven,  and  the  acts  supplementary  thereto, 
have  framed  and  adopted  a  constitution  of  State  government, 
which  is  republican,  and  the  legislature  of  said  State  has  duly 
ratified  the  amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
proposed  by  the  thirty-ninth  Congress,  and  known  as  article 
fourteen:  Therefore, 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  the  State  of  Arkansas  is  entitled 
and  admitted  to  representation  in  Congress  as  one  of  the  States 
of  the  Union  upon  the  following  fundamental  condition:  That 
the  constitution  of  Arkansas  shall  never  be  so  amended  or  changed 
as  to  deprive  any  citizen  or  class  of  citizens  of  the  United  States 
of  the  right  to  vote  who  are  entitled  to  vote  by  the  constitution 
herein  recognized,  except  as  a  punishment  for  such  crimes  as  are 
now  felonies  at  common  law,  whereof  they  shall  have  been  duly 
convicted,  under  laws  equally  applicable  to  all  the  inhabitants 
of  said  State :  Provided,  That  any  alteration  of  said  constitution 
prospective  in  its  effect  may  be  made  in  regard  to  the  time  and 
place  of  residence  of  voters. 


532  RESTORATION   OF   CERTAIN   STATES  [June  25 

No.  158.  Act  admitting  North  Carolina, 
South  Carolina,  Louisiana,  Georgia,  Ala 
bama,  and  Florida  to  Representation  in 
Congress 

June  25,  1868 

As  a  result  of  the  vote  on  the  ratification  of  the  State  constitution  of  Ala 
bama,  a  bill  to  restore  Alabama  to  the  Union  was  introduced  in  the  House 
March  10,  1868,  by  Thaddeus  Stevens.  A  substitute  for  this  bill  passed  the 
House,  but  was  indefinitely  postponed  by  the  Senate.  May  i  r  a  bill  to  admit 
North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Louisiana,  Georgia,  and  Alabama  to  repre 
sentation  in  Congress  was  reported  by  Stevens  from  the  Joint  Committee  on 
Reconstruction.  An  amendment  striking  out  Alabama  from  the  list  of  States 
was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  60  to  74,  55  not  voting.  On  the  i4th  the  amended 
bill  passed  the  House,  the  vote  being  no  to  35,  44  not  voting.  June  10  the 
Senate,  by  a  vote  of  22  to  21,  included  Florida,  and  the  bill  with  further 
amendments  passed,  the  vote  being  31  to  5.  The  House  concurred  in  the 
Senate  amendments  by  a  vote  of  in  to  28,  50  not  voting,  an  amendment 
striking  out  Florida  being  rejected  by  a  vote  of  45  to  99,  45  not  voting.  The 
bill  was  vetoed  by  President  Johnson  June  25,  and  passed  over  the  veto 
the  same  day,  in  the  House  by  a  vote  of  108  to  32,  54  not  voting,  and  in 
the  Senate  by  a  vote  of  35  to  8. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XV.,  73,  74.  For  the  pro 
ceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  4oth  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Globe.  On  Alabama  see  House  Exec.  Docs.  302  and  303,  and  House 
Report  21,  4oth  Cong.,  2d  Sess.;  on  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia, 
and  Louisiana,  House  Exec.  Docs.  281,  300,  and  301,  4oth  Cong.,  2d  Sess., 
and  Senate  Exec.  Doc.  15,  4oth  Cong.,  3d  Sess.;  on  Florida,  House  Misc. 
Docs.  109  and  114,  4oth  Cong.,  2d  Sess. 

An  Act  to  admit  the  States  of  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina, 
Louisiana,  Georgia,  Alabama,  and  Florida,  to  Representation 
in  Congress. 

WHEREAS  the  people  of  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Lou 
isiana,  Georgia,  Alabama,  and  Florida  have,  in  pursuance  of  the 
provisions  of  ...  [the  Reconstruction  Act  of  March  2,  1867]  .  .  .  , 
and  the  acts  supplementary  thereto,  framed  constitutions  of  State 
government  which  are  republican,  and  have  adopted  said  con 
stitutions  by  large  majorities  of  the  votes  cast  at  the  elections 
held  for  the  ratification  or  rejection  of  the  same:  Therefore, 

Be  it  enacted  .         ,  That  each  of  the  States  of  North  Caro- 


i868]  RESTORATION   OF   CERTAIN   STATES  533 

lina,  South  Carolina,  Louisiana,  Georgia,  Alabama,  and  Florida, 
shall  be  entitled  and  admitted  to  representation  in  Congress  as 
a  State  of  the  Union  when  the  legislature  of  such  State  shall 
have  duly  ratified  the  amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  proposed  by  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress,  and  known 
as  article  fourteen,  upon  the  following  fundamental  conditions: 
That  the  constitutions  of  neither  of  said  States  shall  ever  be  so 
amended  or  changed  as  to  deprive  any  citizen  or  class  of  citizens 
of  the  United  States  of  the  right  to  vote  in  said  State,  who  are 
entitled  to  vote  by  the  constitution  thereof  herein  recognized, 
except  as  a  punishment  for  such  crimes  as  are  now  felonies  at 
common  law,  whereof  they  shall  have  been  duly  convicted  under 
laws  equally  applicable  to  all  the  inhabitants  of  said  State:  Pro 
vided,  That  any  alteration  of  said  constitution  may  be  made  with 
regard  to  the  time  and  place  of  residence  of  voters ;  and  the  State 
of  Georgia  shall  only  be  entitled  and  admitted  to  representation 
upon  this  further  fundamental  condition :  that  the  first  and  third 
subdivisions  of  section  seventeen  of  the  fifth  article  of  the  constitu 
tion  of  said  State,  except  the  proviso  to  the  first  subdivision, 
shall  be  null  and  void,  and  that  the  general  assembly  of  said  State 
by  solemn  public  act  shall  declare  the  assent  of  the  State  to  the 
foregoing  fundamental  condition. 

******** 

SEC.  3.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  first  section  of  this 
act  shall  take  effect  as  to  each  State,  except  Georgia,  when  such 
State  shall,  by  its  legislature,  duly  ratify  article  fourteen  of  the 
amendments  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  proposed 
by  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress,  and  as  to  the  State  of  Georgia 
when  it  shall  in  addition  give  the  assent  of  said  State  to  the  funda 
mental  condition  hereinbefore  imposed  upon  the  same;  and 
thereupon  the  officers  of  each  State  duly  elected  and  qualified 
under  the  constitution  thereof  shall  be  inaugurated  without  delay ; 
but  no  person  prohibited  from  holding  office  under  the  United 
States,  or  under  any  State,  by  section  three  of  the  proposed  amend 
ment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  known  as  article 
fourteen,  shall  be  deemed  eligible  to  any  office  in  either  of  said 
States,  unless  relieved  from  disability  as  provided  in  said  amend 
ment  ;  and  it  is  hereby  made  the  duty  of  the  President  within  ten 
days  after  receiving  official  information  of  the  ratification  of  said 


534  OATH  OF   OFFICE  [July  n 

amendment  by  the  legislature  of  either  of  said  States  to  issue  a 
proclamation  announcing  that  fact. 


No.   159.     Oath  of  Office 

July  ii,   1868 

MARCH  5,  1868,  the  House  having  under  consideration  a  resolution  for  the 
removal  of  the  political  disabilities  of  R.  R.  Butler,  a  representative-elect  from 
Tennessee,  the  resolution,  on  motion  of  Dawes  of  Massachusetts,  was  recom 
mitted  to  the  Committee  on  Elections  with  instructions  to  report  a  general  bill 
for  the  removal  of  such  disabilities.  The  bill  was  reported  the  same  day,  and 
on  the  6th  passed.  Subsequent  amendments  in  the  Senate  and  House  were 
unimportant,  and  the  yeas  and  nays  were  not  called  for.  An  act  of  February 
15,  1871,  allowed  those  who  could  not  take  the  oath  prescribed  by  the  act  of 
July  2,  1862,  and  who  were  not  rendered  ineligible  to  office  by  the  Fourteenth 
Amendment,  to  take  the  oath  prescribed  by  this  act. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XV.,  85.  For  the  pro 
ceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  4oth  Cong.,  2d  Sess. 

An  Act  prescribing  an  Oath  of  Office  to  be  taken  by  Persons  from 
whom  legal  Disabilities  shall  have  been  removed. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  .  ,  That  whenever  any  person  who  has  par 
ticipated  in  the  late  rebellion,  and  from  whom  all  legal  disabilities 
arising  therefrom  have  been  removed  by  act  of  Congress  by  a 
vote  of  two  thirds  of  each  house,  has  been  or  shall  be  elected  or 
appointed  to  any  office  or  place  of  trust  in  or  under  the  govern 
ment  of  the  United  States,  he  shall,  before  entering  upon  the 
duties  thereof,  instead  of  the  oath  prescribed  by  the  act  of  ... 
[July  2,  1862]  .  .  .  ,  take  and  subscribe  the  following  oath  or 
affirmation:  I,  A.  B.,  do  solemnly  swear  (or  affirm)  that  I  will 
support  and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  against 
all  enemies,  foreign  and  domestic ;  that  I  will  bear  true  faith  and 
allegiance  to  the  same;  that  I  take  this  obligation  freely,  without 
any  mental  reservation  or  purpose  of  evasion;  and  that  I  will 
well  and  faithfully  discharge  the  duties  of  the  office  on  which  I  am 
about  to  enter.  So  help  me  God. 


f868]  EXCLUSION   OF   ELECTORAL   VOTES  535 

No.   1 60.    Joint  Resolution  excluding   Elec 
toral  Votes  of  the  Late  Rebellious  States 

July  20,   1868 

A  JOINT  resolution  "excluding  from  the  electoral  college  votes  of  States 
lately  in  rebellion  which  shall  not  have  been  reorganized"  was  introduced  in 
the  Senate  June  2,  1868,  by  George  F.  Edmunds  of  Vermont,  and  referred  to 
the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary.  The  resolution  was  reported  on  the  2Qth 
with  an  amendment  inserting  the  clause  beginning  "nor  unless  such  election 
of  electors."  The  phraseology  of  the  bill  rather  than  its  substance  was  the 
chief  occasion  of  debate.  The  resolution  passed  the  Senate  July  10,  by  a  vote 
of  29  to  5,  23  not  voting.  The  House  added  the  proviso  as  an  amendment, 
and  passed  the  bill  on  the  nth  by  a  vote  of  112  to  21,  65  not  voting.  The 
Senate,  by  a  vote  of  19  to  1 5,  concurred.  The  resolution  was  vetoed  by  Presi 
dent  Johnson  July  20,  and  passed  over  the  veto  the  same  day,  in  the  House 
by  a  vote  of  134  to  36,  40  not  voting,  in  the  Senate  by  a  vote  of  45  to  8. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XV.,  257.  For  the  pro 
ceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  4oth  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Globe. 

A  Resolution  excluding  from  the  Electoral  College  Votes  of  States 
lately  in  Rebellion,  which  shall  not  have  been  reorganized. 

Resolved  .  .  .  ,  That  none  of  the  States  whose  inhabitants 
were  lately  in  rebellion  shall  be  entitled  to  representation  in  the 
electoral  college  for  the  choice  of  President  or  Vice-President  of 
the  United  States,  nor  shall  any  electoral  votes  be  received  or 
counted  from  any  of  such  States,  unless  at  the  time  prescribed  by 
law  for  the  choice  of  electors  the  people  of  such  States,  pursuant 
to  the  acts  of  Congress  in  that  behalf,  shall  have,  since  .  .  . 
[March  4,  1867]  .  .  .  ,  adopted  a  constitution  of  State  government 
under  \vhich  a  State  government  shall  have  been  organized  and 
shall  be  in  operation,  nor  unless  such  election  of  electors  shall 
have  been  held  under  the  authority  of  such  constitution  and  gov 
ernment,  and  such  State  shall  have  also  become  entitled  to  rep 
resentation  in  Congress,  pursuant  to  the  acts  of  Congress  in  that 
behalf:  Provided,  That  nothing  herein  contained  shall  be  con 
strued  to  apply  to  any  State  which  was  represented  in  Congress 
on  ...  [March  4,  1867]  .  .  . 


FOURTEENTH   AMENDMENT  [July  28 


No.    161.     Fourteenth    Amendment    to    the 
Constitution 

July  28,   1868 

VARIOUS  propositions  to  amend  the  Constitution  were  submitted  in  both 
House  and  Senate  during  the  first  session  of  the  thirty-ninth  Congress.  A 
joint  resolution  embodying  the  substance  of  the  provisions  of  the  Fourteenth 
Amendment  was  reported  in  the  House  April  30,  1866,  by  Thaddeus  Stevens, 
from  the  Committee  on  Reconstruction,  together  with  a  bill  for  admission  to 
representation  of  certain  States  ratifying  the  same.  May  10  the  resolution 
passed  the  House,  the  vote  being  128  to  37,  18  not  voting.  The  third  section 
of  the  House  resolution  provided  that  until  July  4,  1870,  all  persons  who  had 
voluntarily  aided  the  rebellion  should  be  denied  the  privilege  of  voting  for 
Representatives  in  Congress  or  presidential  electors.  The  Senate,  by  a  vote 
of  43  to  o,  struck  out  this  section,  and  recast  the  amendment  in  the  form  in 
which  it  was  later  submitted.  The  resolution  passed  the  Senate  June  8,  by  a 
vote  of  33  to  ii.  On  the  i3th  the  House,  by  a  vote  of  138  to  36,  10  not  vot 
ing,  concurred.  The  amendment  was  rejected  by  Delaware,  Maryland,  and 
Kentucky,  and  was  not  acted  on  by  California.  It  was  also  at  first  rejected 
by  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Florida,  Alabama, 
Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and  Texas,  with  the  result  that  the  ratification  of  the 
amendment  was,  by  the  Reconstruction  Act  of  March  2,  1867,  made  a  condi 
tion  of  the  restoration  of  those  States.  The  ratifications  of  New  Jersey  and 
Ohio  were  rescinded  by  the  legislatures  of  those  States.  July  20,  1868,  a 
proclamation  by  Seward  announced  that  the  amendment  had  been  ratified 
by  the  legislatures  of  twenty-three  States,  and  "by  newly  constituted  and 
newly  established  bodies  avowing  themselves  to  be  and  acting  as  the  legisla 
tures  of"  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Florida,  Alabama,  Louisiana,  and 
Arkansas;  and  that  if  the  ratifications  of  New  Jersey  and  Ohio  "be  deemed 
as  remaining  of  full  force  and  effect,"  the  amendment  was  in  force.  There 
upon  Congress,  by  resolution  of  July  21,  declared  the  amendment  in  force 
and  directed  its  promulgation  as  such.  The  final  proclamation  was  issued 
July  28. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Revised  Statutes  (ed.  1878),  31.  For  the  proceed 
ings  of  Congress  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  39th  Cong.,  and  4oth 
Cong.,  ist  and  2d  Sess.,  and  the  Cong.  Globe.  The  various  proclamations  are 
in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XV.  For  some  early  proposals  see  McPherson, 
Reconstruction,  103.  See  also  Guthrie,  Fourteenth  Amendment;  Slaughter 
House  Cases,  16  Wallace,  36;  Johnson's  message  of  June  22,  1866.  Man) 
disabilities  under  the  amendment  were  removed  by  special  acts;  for  the  gen 
eral  act  of  May  22,  1872,  see  No.  173,  post. 


1868]  FOURTEENTH   AMENDMENT  537 


ARTICLE  XIV. 

SEC.  i.  All  persons  born  or  naturalized  in  the  United  States, 
and  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  thereof,  are  citizens  of  the  United 
States  and  of  the  State  wherein  they  reside.  No  State  shall 
make  or  enforce  any  law  which  shall  abridge  the  privileges  or 
immunities  of  citizens  of  the  United  States;  nor  shall  any  State 
deprive  any  person  of  life,  liberty,  or  property,  without  due  pro 
cess  of  law ;  nor  deny  to  any  person  within  its  jurisdiction  the  equal 
protection  of  the  laws. 

SEC.  2.  Representatives  shall  be  apportioned  among  the  sev 
eral  States  according  to  their  respective  numbers,  counting  the 
whole  number  of  persons  in  -each  State,  excluding  Indians  not 
taxed.  But  when  the  right  to  vote  at  any  election  for  the  choice 
of  electors  for  President  and  Vice-President  of  the  United  States, 
Representatives  in  Congress,  the  Executive  and  Judicial  officers 
of  a  State,  or  the  members  of  the  Legislature  thereof,  is  denied 
to  any  of  the  male  inhabitants  of  such  State,  being  twenty-one 
years  of  age,  and  citizens  of  the  United  States,  or  in  any  way 
abridged,  except  for  participation  in  rebellion,  or  other  crime, 
the  basis  of  representation  therein  shall  be  reduced  in  the  pro 
portion  which  the  number  of  such  male  citizens  shall  bear  to 
the  whole  number  of  male  citizens  twenty-one  years  of  age  in 
such  State. 

SEC.  3.  No  person  shall  be  a  Senator  or  Representative  in 
Congress,  or  elector  of  President  and  Vice-President,  or  hold 
any  office,  civil  or  military,  under  the  United  States,  or  under 
any  State,  who,  having  previously  taken  an  oath,  as  a  member 
of  Congress,  or  as  an  officer  of  the  United  States,  or  as  a  mem 
ber  of  any  State  legislature,  or  as  an  executive  or  judicial  officer 
of  any  State,  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
shall  have  engaged  in  insurrection  or  rebellion  against  the  same, 
or  given  aid  or  comfort  to  the  enemies  thereof.  But  Congress 
may  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  each  House,  remove  such  disability. 

SEC.  4.  The  validity  of  the  public  debt  of  the  United  States, 
authorized  by  law,  including  debts  incurred  for  payment  of  pen 
sions  and  bounties  for  services  in  suppressing  insurrection  or 
rebellion,  shall  not  be  questioned.  But  neither  the  United  States 


538  VIRGINIA,   TEXAS,   AND   MISSISSIPPI  [Feb.  18 

nor  any  State  shall  assume  or  pay  any  debt  or  obligation  incurred 
in  aid  of  insurrection  or  rebellion  against  the  United  States,  or 
any  claim  for  the  loss  or  emancipation  of  any  slave ;  but  all  such 
debts,  obligations  and  claims  shall  be  held  illegal  and  void. 

SEC.  5.     The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce,  by  appro 
priate  legislation,  the  provisions  of  this  article. 


No.   162.    Provisional  Governments  of   Vir 
ginia,  Texas,   and    Mississippi 

February  18,  1869 

A  JOINT  resolution  for  the  removal  of  certain  civil  officers  in  Virginia  and 
Texas  was  introduced  in  the  Senate  July  24,  1868,  and  passed  the  same  day. 
The  bill  was  not  taken  up  in  the  House  until  December  10;  it  was  then  re 
ferred  to  the  Committee  on  Reconstruction,  which  reported  it  January  18, 
1869,  with  an  amendment,  the  amendment  being  the  first  two  provisos  of 
the  act.  The  same  day  the  bill  passed  the  House.  The  Senate  added  the 
proviso  including  Mississippi,  in  which  the  House  concurred.  The  resolu 
tion  became  law  under  the  ten  days  rule. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XV.,  344.  For  the  pro 
ceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  4oth  Cong.,  2d  and  jd  Sess., 
and  the  Cong.  Globe.  The  debate  was  unimportant. 

A  Resolution  respecting  the  provisional  Governments  of  Virginia 

and  Texas. 

Resolved  .  .  .  ,  That  the  persons  now  holding  civil  offices  in 
the  provisional  governments  of  Virginia  and  Texas,  who  can 
not  take  and  subscribe  the  oath  prescribed  by  the  act  ...  [of 
July  2,  1862]  .  .  .  ,  shall,  on  the  passage  of  this  resolution,  be 
removed  therefrom;  and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  district  com 
manders  to  fill  the  vacancies  so  created  by  the  appointment  of 
persons  who  can  take  said  oath:  Provided,  That  the  provisions 
of  this  resolution  shall  not  apply  to  persons  who  by  reason  of  the 
removal  of  their  disabilities  as  provided  in  the  fourteenth  amend 
ment  to  the  Constitution  shall  have  qualified  for  any  office  in  pur 
suance  of  the  act  ...  [of  July  n,  1868]  ...  :  And  provided 
further,  That  this  resolution  shall  not  take  effect  until  thirty  days 


1869]  PUBLIC   CREDIT  539 

from  and  after  its  passage:  And  it  is  further  provided,  That  this 
resolution  shall  be,  and  is  hereby  extended  to,  and  made  applicable 
to  the  State  of  Mississippi. 


No.  163.      Act  to  strengthen  the  Public 
Credit 

March  18,  1869 

A  BILL  "to  strengthen  the  public  credit,  and  relating  to  contracts  for  the 
payment  of  coin,"  was  introduced  in  the  House  January  20,  1869,  by  Schenck 
of  Ohio,  and  referred  to  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means.  The  bill  was 
taken  up  February  24,  and  passed  the  same  day  by  a  vote  of  121  to  60,  41  not 
voting.  On  the  2yth  the  bill  passed  the  Senate,  but  was  disposed  of  by  a 
"pocket"  veto.  The  second  section  of  the  bill  legalized  contracts  for  pay 
ments  in  coin.  The  same  bill  was  again  introduced  by  Schenck  March  12, 
and  passed  the  House  the  same  day  by  a  vote  of  93  to  48,  52  not  voting.  A 
bill  of  somewhat  different  character  had  been  introduced  in  the  Senate 
March  9.  On  the  i5th  the  Senate  bill  was  laid  aside,  and  the  House  bill, 
without  the  second  section,  passed,  the  final  vote  being  42  to  13. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XVI.,  i.  For  the  pro 
ceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  4oth  Cong.,  3d  Sess.,  and  4ist 
Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  and  the  Cong.  Globe. 

An  Act  to  strengthen  the  public  Credit. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  in  order  to  remove  any  doubt  as  to 
the  purpose  of  the  government  to  discharge  all  just  obligations 
to  the  public  creditors,  and  to  settle  conflicting  questions  and 
interpretations  of  the  laws  by  virtue  of  which  such  obligations 
have  been  contracted,  it  is  hereby  provided  and  declared  that 
the  faith  of  the  United  States  is  solemnly  pledged  to  the  pay 
ment  in  coin  or  its  equivalent  of  all  the  obligations  of  the  United 
States  not  bearing  interest,  known  as  United  States  notes,  and  of 
all  the  interest-bearing  obligations  of  the  United  States,  except 
in  cases  where  the  law  authorizing  the  issue  of  any  such  obligation 
has  expressly  provided  that  the  same  may  be  paid  in  lawful  money 
or  other  currency  than  gold  and  silver.  But  none  of  said  interest- 
bearing  obligations  not  already  due  shall  be  redeemed  or  paid 
before  maturity  unless  at  such  time  United  States  notes  shall  be 


540  VIRGINIA,   MISSISSIPPI,   AND   TEXAS  [April  10 

convertible  into  coin  at  the  option  of  the  holder,  or  unless  at  such 
time  bonds  of  the  United  States  bearing  a  lower  rate  of  interest 
than  the  bonds  to  be  redeemed  can  be  sold  at  par  in  coin.  And  the 
United  States  also  solemnly  pledges  its  faith  to  make  provision  at 
the  earliest  practicable  period  for  the  redemption  of  the  United 
States  notes  in  coin. 


No.    164.     Submission  of  the  Constitutions 
of  Virginia,  Mississippi,  and  Texas 

April  10,  1869 

IN  a  message  of  April  7,  1869,  President  Grant  recommended  that  provi 
sion  be  made  for  a  vote  in  Virginia  on  the  State  constitution  agreed  upon  by 
a  convention  April  17,  1868,  and  for  the  election  of  State  officers,  the  State 
to  be  restored  on  the  approval  of  the  constitution  by  Congress.  He  further 
raised  the  question  whether  the  rejected  constitution  of  Mississippi  should  not 
be  resubmitted.  A  bill  to  give  effect  to  this  recommendation,  and  including 
Texas,  was  reported  in  the  House  the  next  day  from  the  Committee  on  Re 
construction,  and  passed  with  amendments  by  a  vote  of  125  to  25,  47  not  vot 
ing.  The  Senate,  by  a  vote  of  30  to  20,  added  the  provision  of  section  6  of 
the  act,  together  with  other  amendments.  The  final  vote  in  the  Senate  was 
44  to  9.  The  House,  under  suspension  of  the  rules,  concurred  in  the  Senate 
amendments,  the  vote  being  108  to  39,  54  not  voting.  Proclamations  submit 
ting  the  constitutions  of  the  States  to  the  voters  were  issued,  for  Virginia,  May 
14,  for  Mississippi,  July  13,  and  for  Texas,  July  15. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XVI.,  40,  41.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  4ist  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Globe.  The  bill  reported  April  8  is  in  the  Globe.  On  Canby's  course 
in  Virginia  see  Senate  Exec.  Doc.  13,  4ist  Cong.,  2d  Sess.  On  conditions  in 
Virginia  see  Senate  Exec.  Doc.  13,  4ist  Cong.,  2d  Sess.;  in  Texas,  House 
Misc.  Docs.  57  and  127,  and  Senate  Misc.  Doc.  109,  4oth  Cong.,  2d  Sess. 

An  Act  authorizing  the  Submission  of  the  Constitutions  of  Vir 
ginia,  Mississippi,  and  Texas,  to  a  Vote  of  the  People,  and 
authorizing  the  Election  of  State  Officers,  provided  by  the  said 
Constitutions,  and  Members  of  Congress. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  the  President  of  the  United  States,  at 
such  time  as  he  may  deem  best  for  the  public  interest,  may  sub 
mit  the  constitution  which  was  framed  by  the  convention  which 


1869]  VIRGINIA,   MISSISSIPPI,   AND   TEXAS  541 

met  in  Richmond,  Virginia,  on  Tuesday,  .  .  .  [December  3, 
1867]  .  .  .  ,  to  the  voters  of  said  State,  registered  at  the  date  of  said 
submission,  for  ratification  or  rejection;  and  may  also  submit  to  a 
separate  vote  such  provisions  of  said  constitution  as  he  may  deem 
best,  such  vote  to  be  taken  either  upon  each  of  the  said  provisions 
alone,  or  in  connection  with  the  other  portions  of  said  constitution, 
as  the  President  may  direct. 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  at  the  same  election 
the  voters  of  said  State  may  vote  for  and  elect  members  of  the 
general  assembly  of  said  State,  and  all  the  officers  of  said  State 
provided  for  by  the  said  constitution,  and  members  of  Congress; 
and  the  officer  commanding  the  district  of  Virginia  shall  cause 
the  lists  cf  registered  voters  of  said  State  to  be  revised,  enlarged, 
and  corrected  prior  to  such  election,  according  to  law,  and  for 
that  purpose  may  appoint  such  registrars  as  he  may  deem  nec 
essary.  And  said  elections  shall  be  held  and  returns  thereof 
made  in  the  manner  provided  by  the  acts  of  Congress  commonly 
called  the  reconstruction  acts. 

SEC.  3.  [Similar  provisions  for  Texas];  Provided,  also,  That 
no  election  shall  be  held  in  said  State  of  Texas  for  any  purpose 
until  the  President  so  directs. 

SEC.  4.     [Similar  provisions  for  Mississippi.] 

SEC.  5.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  if  either  of  said  con 
stitutions  shall  be  ratified  at  such  election,  the  legislature  of  the 
State  so  ratifying,  elected  as  provided  for  in  this  act,  shall  assemble 
at  the  capital  of  said  State  on  the  fourth  Tuesday  after  the  official 
promulgation  of  such  ratification  by  the  military  officer  com 
manding  in  said  State. 

SEC.  6.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  before  the  States  of 
Virginia,  Mississippi,  and  Texas  shall  be  admitted  to  representa 
tion  in  Congress,  their  several  legislatures,  which  may  be  here 
after  lawfully  organized,  shall  ratify  the  fifteenth  article,  which 
has  been  proposed  by  Congress  to  the  several  States  as  an  amend 
ment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

SEC.  7.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  proceedings  in 
any  of  said  States  shall  not  be  deemed  final  or  operate  as  a  com 
plete  restoration  thereof,  until  their  action,  respectively,  shall  be 
approved  by  Congress. 


542  RECONSTRUCTION   OF   GEORGIA  [Dec.  2* 


No.  165.    Reconstruction  of  Georgia 

December  22,  1869 

A  BILL  "to  enforce  the  fourteenth  amendment  to  the  Constitution  and  the 
laws  of  the  United  States  in  the  State  of  Georgia,  and  to  restore  to  that  State 
the  republican  form  of  government  elected  under  its  new  constitution,"  was 
introduced  in  the  Senate  March  5,  1869,  by  Edmunds  of  Vermont,  and  re 
ferred  to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary.  The  bill  was  reported  with  an 
amendment  on  the  iyth,  but  without  recommendation  as  to  its  passage,  the 
committee  being  equally  divided  on  that  point.  A  bill  with  the  same  title 
was  reported  in  the  House  April  7,  from  the  Committee  on  Reconstruction. 
There  was  no  further  action  on  either  bill  during  the  session.  A  concurrent 
resolution  of  February  9  had  provided,  in  the  meantime,  for  the  recognition 
of  the  electoral  vote  of  Georgia.  In  his  annual  message  of  December  6, 
President  Grant  called  attention  to  the  unseating  of  colored  members  of  the 
legislature  of  Georgia  and  the  seating  of  persons  disqualified  by  the  fourteenth 
amendment,  and  submitted  "whether it  would  not  be  wise,  without  delay,  to 
enact  a  law  authorizing  the  governor  of  Georgia  to  convene  the  members 
originally  elected  to  the  legislature,  requiring  each  member  to  take  the  oath 
prescribed  by  the  reconstruction  acts,  and  none  to  be  admitted  who  are  in 
eligible  under  the  third  clause  of  the  fourteenth  amendment."  The  Edmunds 
bill  was  thereupon  called  up,  and,  together  with  a  bill  on  the  same  subject  in 
troduced  by  Oliver  P.  Morton  of  Indiana,  referred  to  the  Committee  on  the 
Judiciary.  December  13  the  committee  reported  the  Morton  bill.  On  the 
1 7th,  by  a  vote  of  38  to  15,  section  8,  "that  the  legislature  of  Georgia  shall  be 
regarded  as  provisional  only,  until  the  further  action  of  Congress,"  was 
stricken  out,  and  section  8  of  the  act  inserted.  The  bill  then  passed,  the  vote 
being  45  to  9.  The  House  passed  the  bill  on  the  2ist  by  a  vote  of  121  to  51, 
39  not  voting. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XVI.,  59,  60.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  41  st  Cong.,  ist  and  2d  Sess., 
and  the  Cong.  Globe.  On  political  conditions  in  Georgia  see  House  Misc. 
Doc.  52,  4oth  Cong.,  3d  Sess. ;  House  Exec.  Doc.  82,  Senate  Exec.  Docs.  3  and 
41,  Senate  Reports  58  and  75,  4ist  Cong.,  2d  Sess. 

An  Act  to  promote  the  Reconstruction  of  the  State  of  Georgia. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  the  governor  of  the  State  of  Georgia 
be,  and  hereby  is,  authorized  and  directed,  forthwith,  by  procla 
mation,  to  summon  all  persons  elected  to  the  general  assembly 
of  said  State,  ...  to  appear  on  some  day  certain,  to  be  named  in 
said  proclamation,  at  Atlanta,  in  said  State;  and  thereupon  the 
said  general  assembly  of  said  State  shall  proceed  to  perfect  its 


1869]  RECONSTRUCTION   OF  GEORGIA  543 

organization  in  conformity  with  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the 
United  States,  according  to  the  provisions  of  this  act. 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  when  the  members  so 
elected  to  said  senate  and  house  of  representatives  shall  be  con 
vened,  as  aforesaid,  each  and  every  member  and  each  and  every 
person  claiming  to  be  elected  as  a  member  of  said  senate  or  house  of 
representatives  shall,  in  addition  to  taking  the  oath  or  oaths  re 
quired  by  the  constitution  of  Georgia,  also  take  and  subscribe  and 
file  in  the  office  of  the  secretary  of  state  of  the  State  of  Georgia 
one  of  the  following  oaths  or  affirmations,  namely :  "  I  do  solemnly 
swear  (or  affirm,  as  the  case  may  be)  that  I  have  never  held  the 
office,  or  exercised  the  duties  of,  a  senator  or  representative  in 
Congress,  nor  been  a  member  of  the  legislature  of  any  State  of  the 
United  States,  nor  held  any  civil  office  created  by  law  for  the  ad- 
ministration  of  any  general  law  of  a  State,  or  for  the  administration 
of  justice  in  any  State  or  under  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  nor 
held  any  office  in  the  military  or  naval  service  of  the  United  States, 
and  thereafter  engaged  in  insurrection  or  rebellion  against  the 
United  States,  or  gave  aid  or  comfort  to  its  enemies,  or  rendered, 
except  in  consequence  of  direct  physical  force,  any  support  or  aid  to 
any  insurrection  or  rebellion  against  the  United  States,  nor  held 
any  office  under,  or  given  any  support  to,  any  government  of  any 
kind  organized  or  acting  in  hostility  to  the  United  States,  or  levying 
war  against  the  United  States.  So  help  me  God  .  .  ."  Or  the 
following  oath  or  affirmation,  namely:  "I  do  solemnly  swear 
(or  affirm,  as  the  case  may  be)  that  I  have  been  relieved,  by  an 
act  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  from  disability  as  pro 
vided  for  by  section  three  of  the  fourteenth  amendment  to  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States.  So  help  me  God  ..."  And 
every  person  claiming  to  be  so  elected,  who  shall  refuse  or  decline 
or  neglect  or  be  unable  to  take  one  of  said  oaths  or  affirmations 
above  provided,  shall  not  be  admitted  to  a  seat  in  said  senate  or 
house  of  representatives,  or  to  a  participation  in  the  proceedings 
thereof,  but  shall  be  deemed  ineligible  to  such  seats. 

******** 

SEC.  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  persons  elected, 
as  aforesaid,  and  entitled  to  compose  such  legislature,  and  who 
shall  comply  with  the  provisions  of  this  act,  by  taking  one  of 
the  oaths  or  affirmations  above  prescribed,  shall  thereupon  pro- 


544  RESTORATION   OF   VIRGINIA  Jan.  20 

ceed,  in  said  senate  and  house  of  representatives  to  which 
they  have  been  elected  respectively,  to  reorganize  said  senate 
and  house  of  representatives,  respectively,  by  the  election  and 
qualification  of  the  proper  officers  of  each  house. 

******** 

SEC.  6.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  it  is  hereby  declared 
that  the  exclusion  of  any  person  or  persons  elected  as  aforesaid, 
and  being  otherwise  qualified,  from  participation  in  the  pro 
ceedings  of  said  senate  or  house  of  representatives,  upon  the 
ground  of  race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of  servitude,  would 
be  illegal,  and  revolutionary,  and  is  hereby  prohibited. 

SEC.  7.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  upon  the  application 
of  the  governor  of  Georgia,  the  President  of  the  United  States 
shall  employ  such  military  or  naval  forces  of  the  United  States 
as  may  be  necessary  to  enforce  and  execute  the  preceding  pro 
visions  of  this  act. 

SEC.  8.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  legislature  shall 
ratify  the  fifteenth  amendment  proposed  to  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  before  senators  and  representatives  from 
Georgia  are  admitted  to  seats  in  Congress. 


No.    1 66.     Admission  of   Virginia    to    Rep 
resentation  in  Congress 

January  26,   1870 

THE  annual  message  of  President  Grant,  December  6,  1869,  urged  the  ad 
mission  of  Virginia  to  representation,  but  stated  that  the  results  of  the  recent 
elections  in  Mississippi  and  Texas  were  not  yet  known.  To  the  proposition  to 
rehabilitate  Virginia  there  was  strong  opposition,  but  the  wish  of  the  Presi 
dent  prevailed.  A  bill  to  give  effect  to  the  recommendation  was  reported 
January  n,  1870,  from  the  Committee  on  Reconstruction.  On  the  i4th  a 
substitute  offered  by  Bingham  was  agreed  to  by  a  vote  of  98  to  95,  17  not 
voting,  and  the  bill  passed,  the  final  vote  being  142  to  49,  19  not  voting.  The 
Senate  added  various  amendments  imposing  conditions  and  restrictions,  and 
passed  the  bill  on  the  2ist  by  a  vote  of  47  to  10.  On  the  24th  the  House 
concurred  in  the  Senate  amendments,  the  vote  being  136  to  58,  16  not  vot 
ing.  July  28  the  military  authority  in  Virginia  ceased.  Acts  of  February  23 
and  March  30  provided  in  similar  terms  for  the  restoration  of  Mississippi 
and  Texas,  and  the  military  authority  in  those  States  was  withdrawn. 


1870]  RESTORATION    OF   VIRGINIA  545 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XVI.,  62,  63.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  4ist  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  and 
the  Cong.  Globe. 

An  Act  to  admit  the  State  of  Virginia  to  Representation  in  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States. 

WHEREAS  the  people  of  Virginia  have  framed  and  adopted 
a  constitution  of  State  government  which  is  republican;  and 
whereas  the  legislature  of  Virginia  elected  under  said  constitu 
tion  have  ratified  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  amendments  to 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States;  and  whereas  the  per 
formance  of  these  several  acts  in  good  faith  was  a  condition 
precedent  to  the  representation  of  the  State  in  Congress: 
Therefore, 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  the  said  State  of  Virginia  is  entitled 
to  representation  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States:  Pro 
vided,  That  before  any  member  of  the  legislature  of  said  State 
shall  take  or  resume  his  seat,  or  any  officer  of  said  State  shall 
enter  upon  the  duties  of  his  office,  he  shall  take,  and  subscribe, 
and  file  in  the  office  of  the  secretary  of  state  of  Virginia,  for 
permanent  preservation,  an  oath1  in  the  form  following:  "I, 
— ,  do  solemnly  swear  that  I  have  never  taken  an  oath 
as  a  member  of  Congress,  or  as  an  officer  of  the  United  States, 
or  as  a  member  of  any  State  legislature,  or  as  an  executive  or 
judicial  officer  of  any  State,  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  and  afterward  engaged  in  insurrection  or  rebellion 
against  the  same,  or  given  aid  or  comfort  to  the  enemies  thereof, 
so  help  me  God";  or  such  person  shall  in  like  manner  take, 
subscribe,  and  file  the  following  oath :  "I,—  — ,  do  solemnly 

swear  that  I  have,  by  act  of  Congress  of  the  United  States,  been 
relieved  from  the  disabilities  imposed  upon  me  by  the  fourteenth 
amendment  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  so  help 
me  God";  .  .  .  And  provided  further,  That  every  such  person 
who  shall  neglect  for  the  period  of  thirty  days  next  after  the 
passage  of  this  act  to  take,  subscribe,  and  file  such  oath  as 
aforesaid,  shall  be  deemed  and  taken,  to  all  intents  and  pur 
poses,  to  have  vacated  his  office:  And  provided  further,  That 

1  An  amending  act  of  February  i,  1870,  provided  for  the  usual  alternative  of 
affirmation.  —  ED. 

2N 


546  FIFTEENTH   AMENDMENT  [March  3c 

the  State  of  Virginia  is  admitted  to  representation  in  Congress 
as  one  of  the  States  of  the  Union  upon  the  following  funda 
mental  conditions:  First,  That  the  Constitution  of  Virginia 
shall  never  be  so  amended  or  changed  as  to  deprive  any  citizen 
or  class  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  of  the  right  to  vote 
who  are  entitled  to  vote  by  the  Constitution  herein  recognized, 
except  as  a  punishment  for  such  crimes  as  are  now  felonies 
at  common  law,  whereof  they  shall  have  been  duly  convicted 
under  laws  equally  applicable  to  all  the  inhabitants  of  said 
State:  Provided,  That  any  alteration  of  said  Constitution,  pro 
spective  in  its  effects,  may  be  made  in  regard  to  the  time  and 
place  of  residence  of  voters.  Second,  That  it  shall  never  be 
lawful  for  the  said  State  to  deprive  any  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  on  account  of  his  race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of 
servitude,  of  the  right  to  hold  office  under  the  constitution  and 
laws  of  said  State,  or  upon  any  such  ground  to  require  of  him 
any  other  qualifications  for  office  than  such  as  are  required  ol 
all  other  citizens.  Third,  That  the  constitution  of  Virginia 
shall  never  be  so  amended  or  changed  as  to  deprive  any 
citizen  or  class  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  of  the  school 
rights  and  privileges  secured  by  the  constitution  of  said  State. 


No.  167.    Fifteenth  Amendment  to  the  Con 
stitution 

March  30,    1870 

"THE  evident  and  complete  inefficacy  of  the  second  section  of  the  [four 
teenth]  amendment  was  the  reason  for  the  introduction  of  the  fifteenth 
amendment"  (Johnston).  As  in  the  case  of  the  previous  amendments,  vari 
ous  propositions  were  submitted,  while  the  discussion  of  the  political  and 
constitutional  theories  embodied  in  the  proposed  amendment  took  a  wide 
range.  February  17,  1869,  the  Senate,  after  long  debate,  passed,  by  a  vote  of 
35  to  1 1,  a  joint  resolution  for  the  submission  of  an  amendment  to  the  Consti 
tution  reported  from  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  January  15.  February 
20  the  resolution  in  amended  form  passed  the  House,  the  vote  being  140  to  37, 
46  not  voting.  The  Senate,  by  a  vote  of  32  to  17,  disagreed  to  the  House 
amendment.  The  conference  committee  rejected  the  amendment  of  the 
House  and  agreed  to  the  Senate  resolution,  except  the  words  "and  to  hold 
office,"  in  section  i.  The  amendmen^  vas  rejected  by  New  Jersey,  Dela- 


1870]      ACT   TO   ENFORCE   FIFTEENTH  AMENDMENT         547 

ware,  Maryland,  Kentucky,  Oregon,  and  California,  and  was  not  acted  on  by 
Tennessee.  Georgia  and  Ohio  at  first  rejected  it,  but  subsequently  ratified 
it.  The  ratification  of  New  York  was  later  rescinded.  A  proclamation  de 
claring  the  amendment  in  force  was  issued  March  30,  1870. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  Revised  Statutes  (ed.  1878),  32.  For  the  pro 
ceedings  of  Congress  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  4oth  Cong.,  2d 
Sess.,  and  the  Cong.  Globe.  Votes  of  State  legislatures  on  ratification  are 
collected  in  McPherson,  Reconstruction,  488-498,  557-562. 

ARTICLE  XV. 

SECTION  i.  The  right  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  vote 
shall  not  be  denied  or  abridged  by  the  United  States  or  by  any 
State  on  account  of  race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of  servitude. 

SECTION  2.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce  this 
article  by  appropriate  legislation. 


No.   1 68.    Act  to  enforce  the  Fifteenth 
Amendment 

May  31,    1870 

A  BILL  to  enforce  the  right  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  vote  was  in 
troduced  in  the  House  February  21,  1870,  by  Bingham  of  Ohio,  and  referred 
to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary.  May  9  a  substitute  was  reported  and 
the  bill  recommitted.  The  substitute  measure  was  again  reported  May  16, 
and  passed  the  same  day,  the  vote  being  131  to  43,  54  not  voting.  May  20 
the  Senate,  after  an  all-night  session,  passed  a  substitute  by  a  vote  of  43  to  8, 
21  not  voting.  The  House  disagreed  to  the  Senate  amendment,  and  a  con 
ference  committee  settled  the  final  form  of  the  bill.  The  report  of  the  con 
ference  committee  was  agreed  to  by  the  Senate  on  the  25th  by  a  vote  of  48  to 
u,  and  by  the  House  on  the  27th  by  a  vote  of  133  to  58,  39  not  voting. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XVI.,  140-146.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  4ist  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Globe.  The  House  substitute  of  May  9  is  in  the  Globe  for  May  16; 
the  text  of  the  Senate  bill  is  in  ibid.,  May  20.  Part  of  the  act  followed  a  re 
port  on  New  York  election  frauds,  House  Report  31,  4oth  Cong.,  3d  Sess. 
On  general  political  conditions  in  the  South  see  House  Report  37,  4ist  Cong., 
3d  Sess.;  Senate  Report  i,  42d  Cong.,  ist  Sess.;  House  Exec.  Doc.  268,  42d 
Cong.,  2d  Sess.;  House  Reports  101  and  261,  43d  Cong.,  2d  Sess.  The  Con 
gressional  documents  contain  numerous  reports  on  affairs  in  the  different 
States. 


548     ACT   TO   ENFORCE   FIFTEENTH   AMENDMENT     [May  31 

An  Act  to  enforce  the  Right  of  Citizens  of  the  United  States  to 
vote  in  the  several  States  of  this  Union,  and  for  other  purposes. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  all  citizens  of  the  United  States  who 
are  or  shall  be  otherwise  qualified  by  law  to  vote  at  any  election 
by  the  people  in  any  State,  Territory,  district,  county,  city,  par 
ish,  township,  school  district,  municipality,  or  other  territorial 
subdivision,  shall  be  entitled  and  allowed  to  vote  at  all  such 
elections,  without  distinction  of  race,  color,  or  previous  con 
dition  of  servitude;  any  constitution,  law,  custom,  usage,  or 
regulation  of  any  State  or  Territory,  or  by  or  under  its  author 
ity,  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  if  by  or  under  the 
authority  of  the  constitution  or  laws  of  any  State,  or  the  laws 
of  any  Territory,  any  act  is  or  shall  be  required  to  be  done  as 
a  prerequisite  or  qualification  for  voting,  and  by  such  constitu 
tion  or  laws  persons  or  officers  are  or  shall  be  charged  with 
the  performance  of  duties  in  furnishing  to  citizens  an  opportu 
nity  to  perform  such  prerequisite,  or  to  become  qualified  to  vote, 
it  shall  be  the  duty  of  every  such  person  and  officer  to  give  to 
all  citizens  of  the  United  States  the  same  and  equal  opportunity 
to  perform  such  prerequisite,  and  to  become  qualified  to  vote 
without  distinction  of  race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of 
servitude ;  [penalty  for  refusal]. 

******** 

SEC.  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  if  any  person,  by 
force,  bribery,  threats,  intimidation,  or  other  unlawful  means, 
shall  hinder,  delay,  prevent,  or  obstruct,  or  shall  combine  and 
confederate  with  others  to  hinder,  .  .  .  [  &c.],  any  citizen  from 
doing  any  act  required  to  be  done  to  qualify  him  to  vote  or  from 
voting  at  any  election  as  aforesaid,  such  person  shall  for  every 
such  offence  forfeit  and  pay  the  sum  of  five  hundred  dollars  to 
the  person  aggrieved  thereby,  .  .  .  and  shall  also  for  every  such 
offence  be  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and  shall,  on  conviction 
thereof,  be  fined  not  less  than  five  hundred  dollars,  or  be  im 
prisoned  not  less  than  one  month  and  not  more  than  one  year, 
or  both,  at  the  discretion  of  the  court. 

SEC.  5.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  if  any  person  shall 
prevent,  hinder,  control,  or  intimidate,  or  shall  attempt  to  pre- 


1870]      ACT  TO   ENFORCE  FIFTEENTH  AMENDMENT        549 

vent  .  .  .  [  &c.],  any  person  from  exercising  or  in  exercising  the 
right  of  suffrage,  to  whom  the  right  of  suffrage  is  secured  or 
guaranteed  by  the  fifteenth  amendment  to  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  by  means  of  bribery,  threats,  or  threats  of 
depriving  such  person  of  employment  or  occupation,  or  of  eject 
ing  such  person  from  rented  house,  lands,  or  other  property,  or 
by  threats  of  refusing  to  renew  leases  or  contracts  for  labor,  or 
by  threats  of  violence  to  himself  or  family,  such  person  so  offend 
ing  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and  shall,  on  con 
viction  thereof,  be  fined  not  less  than  five  hundred  dollars,  or  be 
imprisoned  not  less  than  one  month  and  not  more  than  one  year, 
or  both,  at  the  discretion  of  the  court. 

SEC.  6.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  if  two  or  more  per 
sons  shall  band  or  conspire  together,  or  go  in  disguise  upon  the 
public  highway,  or  upon  the  premises  of  another,  with  intent  to 
violate  any  provision  of  this  act,  or  to  injure,  oppress,  threaten, 
or  intimidate  any  citizen  with  intent  to  prevent  or  hinder  his 
free  exercise  and  enjoyment  of  any  right  or  privilege  granted 
or  secured  to  him  by  the  Constitution  or  laws  of  the  United 
States,  or  because  of  his  having  exercised  the  same,  such  per 
sons  shall  be  held  guilty  of  felony,  and,  on  conviction  thereof, 
shall  be  fined  or  imprisoned,  or  both,  at  the  discretion  of  the 
court,  —  the  fine  not  to  exceed  five  thousand  dollars,  and  the 
imprisonment  not  to  exceed  ten  years,  —  and  shall,  moreover, 
be  thereafter  ineligible  to,  and  disabled  from  holding,  any  office 
or  place  of  honor,  profit,  or  trust  created  by  the  Constitution  or 
laws  of  the  United  States. 

******** 

SEC.  13.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  it  shall  be  lawful  for 
the  President  of  the  United  States  to  employ  such  part  of  the 
land  or  naval  forces  of  the  United  States,  or  of  the  militia,  as 
shall  be  necessary  to  aid  in  the  execution  of  judicial  process 

issued  under  this  act. 

******** 

SEC.  15.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  any  person  who  shall 
hereafter  knowingly  accept  or  hold  any  office  under  the  United 
States,  or  any  State  to  which  he  is  ineligible  under  the  third 
section  of  the  fourteenth  article  of  amendment  of  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States,  or  who  shall  attempt  to  hold  or  exer- 


550     ACT   TO   ENFORCE   FIFTEENTH   AMENDMENT     [May  31 

else  the  duties  of  any  such  office,  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a 
misdemeanor  against  the  United  States,  and,  upon  conviction 
thereof  before  the  circuit  or  district  court  of  the  United  States, 
shall  be  imprisoned  not  more  than  one  year,  or  fined  not  exceed 
ing  one  thousand  dollars,  or  both,  at  the  discretion  of  the  court. 
SEC.  16.  And  be  it  further  enacted.  That  all  persons  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  shall  have  the  same  right 
in  every  State  and  Territory  in  the  United  States  to  make  and 
enforce  contracts,  to  sue,  be  parties,  give  evidence,  and  to  the 
full  and  equal  benefit  of  all  laws  and  proceedings  for  the  security 
of  person  and  property  as  is  enjoyed  by  white  citizens,  and  shall 
be  subject  to  like  punishment,  pains,  penalties,  taxes,  licenses, 
and  exactions  of  every  kind,  and  none  other,  any  law,  statute, 
ordinance,  regulation,  or  custom  to  the  contrary  notwithstand 
ing.  .  .  . 

******** 

SEC.  18.  [The  Civil  Rights  Act  of  1866  reenacted.] 
SEC.  19.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  if  at  any  election 
for  representative  or  delegate  in  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  any  person  shall  knowingly  personate  and  vote,  or 
attempt  to  vote,  in  the  name  of  any  other  person,  whether 
living,  dead,  or  fictitious;  or  vote  more  than  once  at  the  same 
election  for  any  candidate  for  the  same  office;  or  vote  at  a 
place  where  he  may  not  be  lawfully  entitled  to  vote;  or  vote 
without  having  a  lawful  right  to  vote;  or  do  any  unlawful  act 
to  secure  a  right  or  an  opportunity  to  vote  for  himself  or  any 
other  person;  or  by  force,  threat,  menace,  intimidation,  bribery, 
reward,  or  offer,  or  promise  thereof,  or  otherwise  unlawfully 
prevent  any  qualified  voter  of  any  State  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  or  of  any  Territory  thereof,  from  freely  exercising  the 
right  of  suffrage,  or  by  any  such  means  induce  any  voter  to 
refuse  to  exercise  such  right;  or  compel  or  induce  by  any  such 
means,  or  otherwise,  any  officer  of  an  election  in  any  such  State 
or  Territory  to  receive  a  vote  from  a  person  not  legally  qualified 
or  entitled  to  vote;  or  interfere  in  any  manner  with  any  officer 
of  said  elections  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties;  or  by  any  of 
such  means,  or  other  unlawful  means,  induce  any  officer  of  an 
election,  or  officer  whose  duty  it  is  to  ascertain,  announce,  or 
declare  the  result  of  any  such  election,  or  give  or  make  any 


1870]  REFUNDING   THE   NATIONAL  DEBT  551 

certificate,  document,  or  evidence  in  relation  thereto,  to  violate 
or  refuse  to  comply  with  his  duty,  or  any  law  regulating  the 
same;  or  knowingly  and  wilfully  receive  the  vote  of  any  person 
not  entitled  to  vote,  or  refuse  to  receive  the  vote  of  any  person 
entitled  to  vote;  or  aid,  counsel,  procure,  or  advise  any  such 
voter,  person,  or  officer  to  do  any  act  hereby  made  a  crime,  or 
to  omit  to  do  any  duty  the  omission  of  which  is  hereby  made  a 
crime,  or  attempt  to  do  so,  every  such  person  shall  be  deemed 
guilty  of  a  crime,  and  shall  for  such  crime  be  liable  to  prosecu 
tion  in  any  court  of  the  United  States  of  competent  jurisdiction, 
and,  on  conviction  thereof,  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  not 
exceeding  five  hundred  dollars,  or  by  imprisonment  for  a  term 
not  exceeding  three  years,  or  both,  in  the  discretion  of  the 
court,  and  shall  pay  the  costs  of  prosecution. 

******** 


No.  169.     Act  for   Refunding   the  National 

Debt 

July  14,  1870 

IN  his  annual  report  of  December  6,  1869,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  bonds  known  as  S-2o's,  amounting  to 
$1,602,671,100,  were  either  redeemable  or  soon  to  become  redeemable.  A  bill 
to  provide  for  refunding  the  national  debt  was  introduced  in  the  Senate  by 
Sumner  January  12,  1870,  and  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Finance,  which 
reported  February  3,  through  Sherman,  a  substitute.  The  matter  formed  one 
of  the  principal  subjects  of  discussion  for  the  remainder  of  the  session.  The 
substitute  bill  with  amendments  passed  the  Senate  March  n,  by  a  vote  of  32 
to  10.  The  House  left  the  bill  without  action  until  July  i,  when  a  substitute 
reported  by  Schenck,  from  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means,  was  agreed  to, 
the  final  vote  being  129  to  42,  58  not  voting.  The  chief  difference  between 
the  two  bills  was  in  the  character  of  the  bonds  to  be  issued.  The  Senate 
refused  to  accept  the  substitute  of  the  House.  A  report  of  a  conference  com 
mittee,  July  12,  being  the  act  as  approved  with  an  additional  section  requiring 
the  deposit  of  registered  bonds  as  security  for  bank  circulation,  was  rejected 
by  the  House  by  a  vote  of  88  to  103.  A  second  report  was  agreed  to  the 
next  day,  in  the  House  by  a  vote  of  139  to  54,  37  not  voting,  and  in  the  Senate 
without  a  division.  An  amending  act  of  January  20,  1871,  increased  the 
amount  of  five  per  cent  bonds  to  $500,000,000,  but  without  increasing  the 
total  issue. 


552  REFUNDING   THE   NATIONAL   DEBT  [July  14 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XVI.,  272-274.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  4ist  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Globe.  On  Sumner's  bill  see  his  remarks  in  the  Globe,  January  12 ;  on 
the  Senate  substitute,  Sherman's  remarks,  ibid.,  February  28,  and  Senate 
Report  4.  Cf.  Sherman's  strictures  on  the  act  in  his  Recollections,  I,  451-458. 

An  Act  to  authorize  the  Refunding  of  the  national  Debt. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is 
hereby  authorized  to  issue,  in  a  sum  or  sums  not  exceeding  in 
the  aggregate  two  hundred  million  dollars,  coupon  or  registered 
bonds  of  the  United  States,  in  such  form  as  he  may  prescribe, 
and  of  denominations  of  fifty  dollars,  or  some  multiple  of  that 
sum,  redeemable  in  coin  of  the  present  standard  value,  at  the 
pleasure  of  the  United  States,  after  ten  years  from  the  date  of 
their  issue,  and  bearing  interest,  payable  semiannually  in  such 
coin,  at  the  rate  of  five  per  cent,  per  annum ;  also  a  sum  or  sums 
not  exceeding  in  the  aggregate  three  hundred  million  dollars  of 
like  bonds,  the  same  in  all  respects,  but  payable  at  the  pleasure 
of  the  United  States,  after  fifteen  years  from  the  date  of  their 
issue,  and  bearing  interest  at  the  rate  of  four  and  a  half  per 
cent,  per  annum;  also  a  sum  or  sums  not  exceeding  in  the 
aggregate  one  thousand  million  dollars  of  like  bonds,  the  same 
in  all  respects,  but  payable  at  the  pleasure  of  the  United  States, 
after  thirty  years  from  the  date  of  their  issue,  and  bearing  in 
terest  at  the  rate  of  four  per  cent,  per  annum;  all  of  which  said 
several  classes  of  bonds  and  the  interest  thereon  shall  be  exempt 
from  the  payment  of  all  taxes  or  duties  of  the  United  States,  as 
well  as  from  taxation  in  any  form  by  or  under  State,  municipal, 
or  local  authority.  .  .  . 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  is  hereby  authorized  to  sell  and  dispose  of  any  of  the 
bonds  issued  under  this  act,  at  not  less  than  their  par  value  for 
coin,  and  to  apply  the  proceeds  thereof  to  the  redemption  of 
any  of  the  bonds  of  the  United  States  outstanding,  and  known 
as  five-twenty  bonds,  at  their  par  value,  or  he  may  exchange 
the  same  for  such  five-twenty  bonds,  par  for  par;  but  the  bonds 
hereby  authorized  shall  be  used  for  no  other  purpose  whatso 
ever.  .  .  . 

******** 


1870]  RESTORATION    OF   GEORGIA  553 

SEC.  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  is  hereby  authorized,  with  any  coin  in  the  treasury  of 
the  United  States  which  he  may  lawfully  apply  to  such  purpose, 
or  which  may  be  derived  from  the  sale  of  any  of  the  bonds,  the 
issue  of  which  is  provided  for  in  this  act,  to  pay  at  par  and 
cancel  any  six  per  cent,  bonds  of  the  United  States  of  the  kind 
known  as  five-twenty  bonds,  which  have  become  or  shall  here 
after  become  redeemable  by  the  terms  of  their  issue.  .  .  . 
******** 


No.  170.     Act  for  the  Restoration  of 
Georgia 

July  15,  1870 

A  BILL  for  the  restoration  of  Georgia,  similar  in  purport  to  the  acts  for  the 
restoration  of  Mississippi  and  Texas,  was  reported  in  the  House  P'ebruary  25, 
1870,  by  Butler  of  Massachusetts,  from  the  Committee  on  Reconstruction,  and 
passed,  March  8,  by  a  vote  of  115  to  71,  34  not  voting.  The  Senate  added 
section  2  of  the  act,  and  further  amendments  declaring  the  existing  govern 
ment  of  the  State  provisional,  directing  the  holding  of  a  new  election,  and 
authorizing  the  President  to  suppress  disorder.  The  amended  bill  passed  the 
Senate  April  19,  by  a  vote  of  27  to  25.  The  bill  was  left  without  further 
action  until  June  24,  when  the  House  Committee  on  Reconstruction  reported 
in  favor  of  the  passage  of  the  House  bill  with  amendments.  The  Senate 
refused  to  concur,  and  the  final  form  of  the  bill  was  settled  by  a  conference 
committee.  The  report  of  the  committee  was  accepted  by  both  houses 
July  14,  without  a  division. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XVI.,  363,  364.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  4ist  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Globe.  On  political  conditions  in  Georgia  see  House  Exec.  Doc.  288. 

An  Act  relating  to  the  State  of  Georgia. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  the  State  of  Georgia  having  complied 
with  the  reconstruction  acts,  and  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth 
articles  of  amendments  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
having  been  ratified  in  good  faith  by  a  legal  legislature  of  said 
State,  it  is  hereby  declared  that  the  State  of  Georgia  is  entitled 
to  representation  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  But 


554     ACT  TO   ENFORCE   FIFTEENTH   AMENDMENT    [Feb.  2& 

nothing  in  this  act  contained  shall  be  construed  to  deprive  the 
people  of  Georgia  of  the  right  to  an  election  for  members  of 
the  general  assembly  of  said  State,  as  provided  for  in  the 
Constitution  thereof;  and  nothing  in  this  or  any  other  act  of 
Congress  shall  be  construed  to  affect  the  term  to  which  any 
officer  has  been  appointed  or  any  member  of  the  general  assem 
bly  elected  as  prescribed  by  the  Constitution  of  the  State  of 
Georgia. 


No.  171.     Supplementary  Act  to  enforce 
the  Fifteenth  Amendment 

February  28,  1871 

A  BILL  to  amend  the  act  of  May  31,  1870,  commonly  known  as  the  "Force 
Bill,"  was  introduced  in  the  House  January  9,  1871,  by  John  C.  Churchill  of 
New  York,  and  referred  to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary.  February  15  a 
substitute  offered  by  Bingham  of  Ohio  was  agreed  to  with  amendments,  and 
the  bill  passed,  the  final  vote  being  144  to  64,  32  not  voting.  The  Senate 
passed  the  bill  on  the  24th  without  amendment  by  a  vote  of  39  to  TO,  25  not 
voting.  The  act  was  further  supplemented  by  a  provision  of  the  sundry  civil 
appropriation  act  of  June  10,  1872. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XVI.,  433-440.  P'or  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  4ist  Cong.,  3d  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Globe.  The  amendatory  provision  of  the  act  of  June  10,  1872,  is  in 
MacDonald's  Select  Statutes,  No.  95. 

An  Act  to  amend  an  Act  approved  .  .  .  [May  31,  1870]  .  .  .  . 
entitled  "An  Act  to  enforce  the  Rights  of  Citizens  of  the  Unites 
States  to  vote  in  the  several  States  of  this  Union,  and  for  othe 
Purposes." 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  . ,  [Section  i  amends  Section  20  of  the  act  of 
May  31,  1870]. 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  whenever  in  any  city 
or  town  having  upward  of  twenty  thousand  inhabitants,  there 
shall  be  two  citizens  thereof  who,  prior  to  any  registration  of 
voters  for  an  election  for  representative  or  delegate  in  the  Con 
gress  of  the  United  States,  or  prior  to  any  election  at  which  a 


1871]       ACT  TO   ENFORCE   FIFTEENTH   AMENDMENT        555 

representative  or  delegate  in  Congress  is  to  be  voted  for,  shall 
make  known,  in  writing,  to  the  judge  of  the  circuit  court  of  the 
United  States  for  the  circuit  wherein  such  city  or  town  shall  be, 
their  desire  to  have  said  registration,  or  said  election,  or  both, 
guarded  and  scrutinized,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  said  judge 
of  the  circuit  court,  within  not  less  than  ten  days  prior  to  said 
registration,  if  one  there  be,  or,  if  no  registration  be  required, 
within  not  less  than  ten  days  prior  to  said  election,  to  open  the 
said  circuit  court  at  the  most  convenient  point  in  said  circuit. 
And  the  said  court,  when  so  opened  by  said  judge,  shall  proceed 
to  appoint  and  commission,  from  day  to  day  and  from  time  to 
time,  and  under  the  hand  of  the  said  circuit  judge,  and  under  the 
seal  of  said  court,  for  each  election  district  or  voting  precinct 
in  each  and  every  such  city  or  town  as  shall,  in  the  manner 
herein  prescribed,  have  applied  therefor,  and  to  revoke,  change, 
or  renew  said  appointment  from  time  to  time,  two  citizens,  resi 
dents  of  said  city  or  town,  who  shall  be  of  different  political 
parties,  and  able  to  read  and  write  the  English  language,  and 
who  shall  be  known  and  designated  as  supervisors  of  election. 
And  the  said  circuit  court,  when  opened  by  the  said  circuit  judge 
as  required  herein,  shall  therefrom  and  thereafter,  and  up  to 
and  including  the  day  following  the  day  of  election,  be  always 
open  for  the  transaction  of  business  under  this  act,  and  the 
powers  and  jurisdiction  hereby  granted  and  conferred  shall  be 
exercised  as  well  in  vacation  as  in  term  time;  and  a  judge  sit 
ting  at  chambers  shall  have  the  same  powers  and  jurisdiction, 
including  the  power  of  keeping  order  and  of  punishing  any 

contempt  of  his  authority,  as  when  sitting  in  court. 

******** 

SEC.  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of 
the  supervisors  of  election,  appointed  under  this  act,  ...  to  at 
tend  at  all  times  and  places  fixed  for  the  registration  of  voters, 
who,  being  registered,  would  be  entitled  to  vote  for  a  representa 
tive  or  delegate  in  Congress,  and  to  challenge  any  person  offering 
to  register;  to  attend  at  all  times  and  places  when  the  names  of 
registered  voters  may  be  marked  for  challenge,  and  to  cause 
such  names  registered  as  they  shall  deem  proper  to  be  so 
marked;  to  make,  when  required,  the  lists,  or  either  of  them, 
provided  for  in  section  thirteen  of  this  act,  and  verify  the  same; 


556     ACT  TO   ENFORCE   FIFTEENTH   AMENDMENT     [Feb.  28 

and  upon  any  occasion,  and  at  any  time  when  in  attendance 
under  the  provisions  of  this  act,  to  personally  inspect  and  scru 
tinize  such  registry,  and  for  purposes  of  identification  to  affix 
their  or  his  signature  to  each  and  every  page  of  the  original 
list,  and  of  each  and  every  copy  of  any  such  list  of  registered 
voters,  at  such  times,  upon  each  day  when  any  name  may  or 
shall  be  received,  entered,  or  registered,  and  in  such  manner  as 
will,  in  their  or  his  judgment,  detect  and  expose  the  improper 
or  wrongful  removal  therefrom,  or  addition  thereto,  in  any  way, 
of  any  name  or  names. 

SEC.  5.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  it  shall  also  be  the 
duty  of  the  said  supervisors  of  election,  ...  to  attend  at  all  times 
and  places  for  holding  elections  of  representatives  or  delegates 
in  Congress,  and  for  counting  the  votes  cast  at  said  elections; 
to  challenge  any  vote  offered  by  any  person  whose  legal  qualifi 
cations  the  supervisors,  or  either  of  them,  shall  doubt;  to  be 
and  remain  where  the  ballot-boxes  are  kept  at  all  times  after  the 
polls  are  open  until  each  and  every  vote  cast  at  said  time  and 
place  shall  be  counted,  the  canvass  of  all  votes  polled  be  wholly 
completed,  and  the  proper  and  requisite  certificates  or  returns 
made,  whether  said  certificates  or  returns  be  required  under  any 
law  of  the  United  States,  or  any  State,  territorial,  or  municipal 
law,  and  to  personally  inspect  and  scrutinize,  from  time  to  time, 
and  at  all  times,  on  the  day  of  election,  the  manner  in  which  the 
voting  is  done,  and  the  way  and  method  in  which  the  poll- 
books,  registry-lists,  and  tallies  or  check-books,  whether  the 
same  are  required  by  any  law  of  the  United  States,  or  any  State, 
territorial,  or  municipal  law,  are  kept;  and  to  the  end  that  each 
candidate  for  the  office  of  representative  or  delegate  in  Congress 
shall  obtain  the  benefit  of  every  vote  for  him  cast,  the  said  su 
pervisors  of  election  are,  and  each  of  them  is,  hereby  required, 
in  their  or  his  respective  election  districts  or  voting  precincts,  to 
personally  scrutinize,  count,  and  canvass  each  and  every  ballot 
in  their  or  his  election  district  or  voting  precinct  cast,  whatever 
may  be  the  indorsement  on  said  ballot,  or  in  whatever  box  it 
may  have  been  placed  or  be  found;  to  make  and  forward  to  the 
officer  who,  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  section  thirteen 
of  this  act,  shall  have  been  designated  as  the  chief  supervisor  of 
the  judicial  district  in  which  the  city  or  town  wherein  they  or  he 


1871]      ACT  TO   ENFORCE   FIFTEENTH   AMENDMENT        557 

shall  serve  shall  be,  such  certificates  and  returns  of  all  such 
ballots  as  said  officer  may  direct  and  require,  and  to  attach  to 
the  registry  list,  and  any  and  all  copies  thereof,  and  to  any  cer 
tificate,  statement,  or  return,  whether  the  same,  or  any  part  or 
portion  thereof,  be  required  by  any  law  of  the  United  States,  or 
of  any  State,  territorial,  or  municipal  law,  any  statement  touch 
ing  the  truth  or  accuracy  of  the  registry,  or  the  truth  or  fairness 
of  the  election  and  canvass,  which  the  said  supervisors  of  elec 
tion,  or  either  of  them,  may  desire  to  make,  or  attach,  or  which 
should  properly  and  honestly  be  made  or  attached,  in  order  that 
the  facts  may  become  known,  any  law  of  any  State  or  Territory 
to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

SEC.  6.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  better  to  enable 
the  said  supervisors  of  election  to  discharge  their  duties,  they 
are,  and  each  of  them  is,  hereby  authorized  and  directed,  in 
their  or  his  respective  election  districts  or  voting  precincts,  on 
the  day  or  days  of  registration,  on  the  day  or  days  when  regis 
tered  voters  may  be  marked  to  be  challenged,  and  on  the  day 
or  days  of  election,  to  take,  occupy,  and  remain  in  such  position 
or  positions,  from  time  to  time,  whether  before  or  behind  the 
ballot-boxes,  as  will,  in  their  judgment,  best  enable  them  or  him 
to  see  each  person  offering  himself  for  registration  or  offering 
to  vote,  and  as  will  best  conduce  to  their  or  his  scrutinizing  the 
manner  in  which  the  registration  or  voting  is  being  conducted; 
and  at  the  closing  of  the  polls  for  the  reception  of  votes,  they 
are,  and  each  of  them  is,  hereby  required  to  place  themselves  or 
himself  in  such  position  in  relation  to  the  ballot-boxes  for  the 
purpose  of  engaging  in  the  work  of  canvassing  the  ballots  in 
said  boxes  contained  as  will  enable  them  or  him  to  fully  perform 
the  duties  in  respect  to  such  canvass  provided  in  this  act,  and 
shall  there  remain  until  every  duty  in  respect  to  such  canvass, 
certificates,  returns,  and  statements  shall  have  been  wholly  com 
pleted,  any  law  of  any  State  or  Territory  to  the  contrary  not 
withstanding. 

******** 

SEC.  8.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  whenever  an  election 
at  which  representatives  or  delegates  in  Congress  are  to  be 
chosen  shall  be  held  in  any  city  or  town  of  twenty  thousand 
inhabitants  or  upward,  the  marshal  of  the  United  States  for 


558     ACT   TO   ENFORCE   FIFTEENTH   AMENDMENT    [Feb.  28 

the  district  in  which  said  city  or  town  is  situated  shall  have 
power,  and  it  shall  be  his  duty,  on  the  application,  in  writing, 
of  at  least  two  citizens  residing  in  any  such  city  or  town,  to 
appoint  special  deputy  marshals,  whose  duty  it  shall  be,  when 
required  as  provided  in  this  act,  to  aid  and  assist  the  supervisors 
of  election  in  the  verification  of  any  list  of  persons  made  under 
the  provisions  of  this  act,  who  may  have  registered,  or  voted,  or 
either;  to  attend  in  each  election  district  or  voting  precinct  at 
the  times  and  places  fixed  for  the  registration  of  voters,  and  at 
all  times  and  places  when  and  where  said  registration  may  by 
law  be  scrutinized,  and  the  names  of  registered  voters  be  marked 
for  challenge;  and  also  to  attend,  at  all  times  for  holding  such 
elections,  the  polls  of  the  election  in  such  district  or  precinct. 
And  the  marshal  and  his  general  deputies,  and  such  special 
deputies,  shall  have  power,  and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  such 
special  deputies,  to  keep  the  peace,  and  support  and  protect  the 
supervisors  of  elections  in  the  discharge  of  their  duties,  pre 
serve  order  at  such  places  of  registration  and  at  such  polls, 
prevent  fraudulent  registration  and  fraudulent  voting  thereat, 
or  fraudulent  conduct  on  the  part  of  any  officer  of  election,  and 
immediately,  either  at  said  place  of  registration  or  polling-place, 
or  elsewhere,  and  either  before  or  after  registering  or  voting, 
to  arrest  and  take  into  custody,  with  or  without  process,  any 
person  who  shall  commit,  or  attempt  or  offer  to  commit,  any  of 
the  acts  or  offences  prohibited  by  this  act,  or  the  act  hereby 
amended,  or  who  shall  commit  any  offence  against  the  laws 

of  the  United  States.  .  .  . 

******** 

SEC.  10.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  whoever,  with  or 
without  any  authority,  power,  or  process,  or  pretended  author 
ity,  power,  or  process,  of  any  State,  territorial,  or  municipal 
authority,  shall  obstruct,  hinder,  assault,  or  by  bribery,  solici 
tation,  or  otherwise,  interfere  with  or  prevent  the  supervisors 
of  election,  or  either  of  them,  or  the  marshal  or  his  general  or 
special  deputies,  or  either  of  them,  in  the  performance  of  any 
duty  required  of  them,  or  either  of  them,  or  which  he  or  they, 
or  either  of  them,  may  be  authorized  to  perform  by  any  law  of 
the  United  States,  whether  in  the  execution  of  process  or  other 
wise,  or  shall  by  any  of  the  means  before  mentioned  hinder  or 


1871]      ACT  TO   ENFORCE   FIFTEENTH   AMENDMENT        559 

prevent  the  free  attendance  and  presence  at  such  places  of 
registration  or  at  such  polls  of  election,  or  full  and  free  access 
and  egress  to  and  from  any  such  place  of  registration  or  poll 
of  election,  or  in  going  to  and  from  any  such  place  of  registra 
tion  or  poll  of  election,  or  to  and  from  any  room  where  any 
such  registration  or  election  or  canvass  of  votes,  or  of  making 
any  returns  or  certificates  thereof,  may  be  had,  or  shall  molest, 
interfere  with,  remove,  or  eject  from  any  such  place  of  registra 
tion  or  poll  of  election,  or  of  canvassing  votes  cast  thereat,  or 
of  making  returns  or  certificates  thereof,  any  supervisor  of  elec 
tion,  the  marshal,  or  his  general  or  special  deputies,  or  either 
of  them,  or  shall  threaten,  or  attempt,  or  offer  so  to  do,  or  shall 
refuse  or  neglect  to  aid  and  assist  any  supervisor  of  election,  or 
the  marshal  or  his  general  or  special  deputies,  or  either  of  them, 
in  the  performance  of  his  or  their  duties  when  required  by  him 
or  them,  or  either  of  them,  to  give  such  aid  and  assistance,  he 
shall  be  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and  liable  to  instant  arrest 
without  process,  and  on  conviction  thereof  shall  be  punished 
by  imprisonment  not  more  than  two  years,  or  by  fine  not  more 
than  three  thousand  dollars,  or  by  both  such  fine  and  imprison 
ment,  and  shall  pay  the  costs  of  the  prosecution.  Whoever 
shall,  during  the  progress  of  any  verification  of  any  list  of 
the  persons  who  may  have  registered  or  voted,  and  which 
shall  be  had  or  made  under  any  of  the  provisions  of  this  act, 
refuse  to  answer,  or  refrain  from  answering,  or  answering  shall 
knowingly  give  false  information  in  respect  to  any  inquiry  law 
fully  made,  such  person  shall  be  liable  to  arrest  and  imprison 
ment  as  for  a  misdemeanor,  and  on  conviction  thereof  shall  be 
punished  by  imprisonment  not  to  exceed  thirty  days,  or  by  fine 
not  to  exceed  one  hundred  dollars,  or  by  both  such  fine  and 
imprisonment,  and  shall  pay  the  costs  of  the  prosecution. 
******** 

SEC.  19.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  all  votes  for  repre 
sentatives  in  Congress  shall  hereafter  be  by  written  or  printed 
ballot,  any  law  of  any  State  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding; 
and  all  votes  received  or  recorded  contrary  to  the  provisions  of 
this  section  shall  be  of  none  effect.1 

1  Amended  by  act  of  May  3,  1872  (U.S.  Stat.  at  Large,  XVII.,  61).  —  ED. 


560     ACT  TO  ENFORCE  FOURTEENTH  AMENDMENT    [April  20 

No.   172.     Act  to  enforce  the  Fourteenth 
Amendment 

April  20,  1871 

A  BILL  to  enforce  the  provisions  of  the  fourteenth  amendment  was  re 
ported  in  the  House  March  28,  1871,  by  Samuel  Shellabarger  of  Ohio,  from 
the  select  committee  to  which  had  been  referred  the  President's  message  of 
March  23  on  the  condition  of  affairs  in  the  South.  The  bill  formed  the  prin 
cipal  subject  of  debate  until  April  6,  when,  with  amendments,  it  passed  the 
House  by  a  vote  of  118  to  91,  18  not  voting.  The  Senate  added,  among 
others,  an  amendment  offered  by  Sherman  making  counties,  cities,  parishes, 
etc.,  liable  for  injuries  done  to  any  person  by  reason  of  his  race  or  color,  and 
on  the  i4th  passed  the  bill,  the  vote  being  45  to  19,  6  not  voting.  The  House, 
by  a.  vote  of  45  to  132,  53  not  voting,  rejected  the  principal  Senate  amend 
ment,  and  also  refused,  by  a  vote  of  74  to  106,  50  not  voting,  to  agree  to  a  re 
port  of  a  conference  committee  retaining  the  objectionable  section.  A  second 
conference  committee  reported  a  compromise  in  the  terms  of  section  6  of  the 
act.  The  report  was  agreed  to  April  19,  in  the  House  by  a  vote  of  93  to  74, 
63  not  voting,  and  in  the  Senate  by  a  vote  of  36  to  13.  A  proclamation  call 
ing  attention  to  the  act  as  one  of  "extraordinary  public  importance"  was 
issued  May  3. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XVII.,  13-15.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  42d  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Globe.  The  "  Ku  Klux"  report  is  House  Report  22  and  Senate  Report 
41,  42d  Cong.,  2d  Sess. 

An  Act  to  enforce  the  Provisions  of  the  Fourteenth  Amendment 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  for  other  Purposes. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  any  person  who,  under  color  of  any 
law,  statute,  ordinance,  regulation,  custom,  or  usage  of  any 
State,  shall  subject,  or  cause  to  be  subjected,  any  person  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  to  the  deprivation  of  any 
rights,  privileges,  or  immunities  secured  by  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  shall,  any  such  law,  statute,  ordinance,  regu 
lation,  custom,  or  usage  of  the  State  to  the  contrary  notwith 
standing,  be  liable  to  the  party  injured  in  any  action  at  law,  suit 
in  equity,  or  other  proper  proceeding  for  redress;  such  proceed 
ing  to  be  prosecuted  in  the  several  district  or  circuit  courts  of 
the  United  States,  with  and  subject  to  the  same  rights  of  appeal, 
review  upon  error,  and  other  remedies  provided  in  like  cases  in 


1871]     ACT  TO   ENFORCE   FOURTEENTH   AMENDMENT     561 

such  courts,  under  the  provisions  of  the  .  .  .  [Civil  Rights 
Act]  .  .  .  ,  and  the  other  remedial  laws  of  the  United  States 
which  are  in  their  nature  applicable  in  such  cases. 

SEC.  2.  That  if  two  or  more  persons  within  any  State  or 
Territory  of  the  United  States  shall  conspire  together  to  over 
throw,  or  to  put  down,  or  to  destroy  by  force  the  government  of 
the  United  States,  or  to  levy  war  against  the  United  States,  or 
to  oppose  by  force  the  authority  of  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  or  by  force,  intimidation,  or  threat  to  prevent, 
hinder,  or  delay  the  execution  of  any  law  of  the  United  States,  or 
by  force  to  seize,  take,  or  possess  any  property  of  the  United 
States  contrary  to  the  authority  thereof,  or  by  force,  intimida 
tion,  or  threat  to  prevent  any  person  from  accepting  or  holding 
any  office  or  trust  or  place  of  confidence  under  the  United 
States,  or  from  discharging  the  duties  thereof,  or  by  force,  in 
timidation,  or  threat  to  induce  any  officer  of  the  United  States 
to  leave  any  State,  district,  or  place  where  his  duties  as  such 
officer  might  lawfully  be  performed,  or  to  injure  him  in  his  per 
son  or  property  on  account  of  his  lawful  discharge  of  the  duties 
of  his  office,  or  to  injure  his  person  while  engaged  in  the  lawful 
discharge  of  the  duties  of  his  office,  or  to  injure  his  property  so 
as  to  molest,  interrupt,  hinder,  or  impede  him  in  the  discharge 
of  his  official  duty,  or  by  force,  intimidation,  or  threat  to  deter 
any  party  or  witness  in  any  court  of  the  United  States  from  at 
tending  such  court,  or  from  testifying  in  any  matter  pending  in 
such  court  fully,  freely,  and  truthfully,  or  to  injure  any  such 
party  or  witness  in  his  person  or  property  on  account  of  his 
having  so  attended  or  testified,  or  by  force,  intimidation,  or 
threat  to  influence  the  verdict,  presentment,  or  indictment,  of 
any  juror  or  grand  juror  in  any  court  of  the  United  States,  or 
to  injure  such  juror  in  his  person  or  property  on  account  of  any 
verdict,  presentment,  or  indictment  lawfully  assented  to  by  him, 
or  on  account  of  his  being  or  having  been  such  juror,  or  shall 
conspire  together,  or  go  in  disguise  upon  the  public  highway  or 
upon  the  premises  of  another  for  the  purpose,  either  directly 
or  indirectly,  of  depriving  any  person  or  any  class  of  persons 
of  the  equal  protection  of  the  laws,  or  of  equal  privileges  or  im 
munities  under  the  laws,  or  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  or 
hindering  the  constituted  authorities  of  any  State  from  giving 
20 


562     ACT  TO  ENFORCE  FOURTEENTH  AMENDMENT   [April  20 

or  securing  to  all  persons  within  such  State  the  equal  protection 
of  the  laws,  or  shall  conspire  together  for  the  purpose  of  in  any 
manner  impeding,  hindering,  obstructing,  or  defeating  the  due 
course  of  justice  in  any  State  or  Territory,  with  intent  to  deny 
to  any  citizen  of  the  United  States  the  due  and  equal  protection 
of  the  laws,  or  to  injure  any  person  in  his  person  or  his  property 
for  lawfully  enforcing  the  right  of  any  person  or  class  of  persons 
to  the  equal  protection  of  the  laws,  or  by  force,  intimidation,  or 
threat  to  prevent  any  citizen  of  the  United  States  lawfully  en 
titled  to  vote  from  giving  his  support  or  advocacy  in  a  lawful 
manner  towards  or  in  favor  of  the  election  of  any  lawfully  quali 
fied  person  as  an  elector  of  President  or  Vice-President  of  the 
United  States,  or  as  a  member  of  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  or  to  injure  any  such  citizen  in  his  person  or  property  on 
account  of  such  support  or  advocacy,  each  and  every  person  so 
offending  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  high  crime,  and,  upon 
conviction  thereof  in  any  district  or  circuit  court  of  the  United 
States  or  district  or  supreme  court  of  any  Territory  of  the 
United  States  having  jurisdiction  of  similar  offences,  shall  be 
punished  by  a  fine  not  less  than  five  hundred  nor  more  than 
five  thousand  dollars,  or  by  imprisonment,  with  or  without  hard 
labor,  as  the  court  may  determine,  for  a  period  of  not  less  than 
six  months  nor  more  than  six  years,  as  the  court  may  determine, 
or  by  both  such  fine  and  imprisonment  as  the  court  shall  deter 
mine.  .  .  . 

SEC.  3.  That  in  all  cases  where  insurrection,  domestic  vio 
lence,  unlawful  combinations,  or  conspiracies  in  any  State  shall 
so  obstruct  or  hinder  the  execution  of  the  laws  thereof,  and  of 
the  United  States,  as  to  deprive  any  portion  or  class  of  the  peo 
ple  cf  such  State  of  any  of  the  rights,  privileges,  or  immunities, 
or  protection,  named  in  the  Constitution  and  secured  by  this 
act,  and  the  constituted  authorities  of  such  State  shall  either 
be  unable  to  protect,  or  shall,  from  any  cause,  fail  in  or  refuse 
protection  of  the  people  in  such  rights,  such  facts  shall  be 
deemed  a  denial  by  such  State  of  the  equal  protection  of  the 
laws  to  which  they  are  entitled  under  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States;  and  in  all  such  cases  ...  it  shall  be  lawful  for 
the  President,  and  it  shall  he  his  duty  to  take  such  measures,  by 
the  employment  of  the  militia  or  the  land  and  naval  forces  of  the 


1871]     ACT  TO  ENFORCE  FOURTEENTH  AMENDMENT       563 

United  States^  or  of  either,  or  by  other  means,  as  he  may  deem 
necessary  for  the  suppression  of  such  insurrection,  domestic  vio 
lence,  or  combinations.  .  .  . 

SEC.  4.  That  whenever  in  any  State  or  part  of  a  State  the 
unlawful  combinations  named  in  the  preceding  section  of  this 
act  shall  be  organized  and  armed,  and  so  numerous  and  power 
ful  as  to  be  able,  by  violence,  to  either  overthrow  or  set  at  defi 
ance  the  constituted  authorities  of  such  State,  and  of  the  United 
States  within  such  State,  or  when  the  constituted  authorities  are 
in  complicity  with,  or  shall  connive  at  the  unlawful  purposes 
of,  such  powerful  and  armed  combinations;  and  whenever,  by 
reason  of  either  or  all  of  the  causes  aforesaid,  the  conviction 
of  such  offenders  and  the  preservation  of  the  public  safety  shall 
become  in  such  district  impracticable,  in  every  such  case  such 
combinations  shall  be  deemed  a  rebellion  against  the  govern 
ment  of  the  United  States,  and  during  the  continuance  of  such 
rebellion,  and  within  the  limits  of  the  district  which  shall  be  so 
under  the  sway  thereof,  such  limits  to  be  prescribed  by  procla 
mation,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
when  in  his  judgment  the  public  safety  shall  require  it,  to  sus 
pend  the  privileges  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  to  the  end  that 
such  rebellion  may  be  overthrown:  Provided,  That  all  the  pro 
visions  of  the  second  section  of  ...  [the  Habeas  Corpus  Act  of 
March  3,  1863]  .  .  .  ,  which  relate  to  the  discharge  of  prisoners 
other  than  prisoners  of  war,  and  to  the  penalty  for  refusing  to 
obey  the  order  of  the  court,  shall  be  in  full  force  so  far  as  the  same 
are  applicable  to  the  provisions  of  this  section:  Provided  further, 
That  the  President  shall  first  have  made  proclamation,  as  now 
provided  by  law,  commanding  such  insurgents  to  disperse: 
And  provided  also,  That  the  provisions  of  this  section  shall 
not  be  in  force  after  the  end  of  the  next  regular  session  of 
Congress. 

SEC.  5.  That  no  person  shall  be  a  grand  or  petit  juror  in 
any  court  of  the  United  States  upon  any  inquiry,  hearing,  or 
trial  of  any  suit,  proceeding,  or  prosecution  based  upon  or  aris 
ing  under  the  provisions  of  this  act  who  shall,  in  the  judgment 
of  the  court,  be  in  complicity  with  any  such  combination  or  con 
spiracy;  and  every  such  juror  shall,  before  entering  upon  any 
such  inquiry,  hearing,  or  trial,  take  and  subscribe  an  oath  in 


564  ACT   REMOVING   POLITICAL   DISABILITIES      [May  22 

open  court  that  he  has  never,  directly  or  indirectly,  counselled, 
advised,  or  voluntarily  aided  any  such  combination  or  conspir 
acy.  .  .  . 

******** 


No.   173.     Act   removing   Political   Disabili 
ties 

May  22.   1872 

MAY  13,  1872,  the  House  having  before  it  a  number  of  bills  for  the  removal 
of  the  political  disabilities  of  the  persons  named  therein,  the  rules  were  sus 
pended,  and  a  general  bill  for  the  removal  of  disabilities  imposed  by  the 
fourteenth  amendment  was  introduced  by  Butler  of  Massachusetts,  from  the 
Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  and  passed.  The  Senate  passed  the  bill  on 
the  2ist  by  a  vote  of  38  to  2.  The  debate  was  without  special  interest.  The 
disabilities  not  provided  for  by  this  act  were  removed  by  an  act  of  June  6, 
1898. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XVII.,  142.  For  the  pro 
ceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  426.  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Record. 

An  Act  to  remove  political  Disabilities  imposed  by  the  fourteenth 
Article  of  the  Amendments  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  (two-thirds  of  each  house  concurring 
therein),  That  all  political  disabilities  imposed  by  the  third  sec 
tion  of  the  fourteenth  article  of  amendments  of  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  are  hereby  removed  from  all  persons  whom 
soever,  except  Senators  and  Representatives  of  the  thirty-sixth 
and  thirty-seventh  Congresses,  officers  in  the  judicial,  military, 
and  naval  service  of  the  United  States,  heads  of  departments,  and 
foreign  ministers  of  the  United  States. 


1872]  COINAGE   ACT  565 


No.  174.     Coinage  Act 

February  12,  1873 

THE  need  of  a  revision  of  the  laws  relating  to  the  mints,  assay  offices,  and 
coinage  was  suggested  as  early  as  1866,  and  April  25,  1870,  a  report  on  the 
subject,  prepared  by  John  Jay  Knox,  comptroller  of  the  currency,  was  sub 
mitted  to  Congress,  together  with  the  draft  of  a  bill.  A  bill  in  accordance 
with  this  report  was  reported  in  the  Senate  December  19,  1870,  by  Sherman, 
and  passed  that  body  January  10,  1871.  A  substitute  reported  in  the  House 
February  25  was  recommitted.  A  second  bill  to  the  same  effect  was  intro 
duced  in  the  House  March  3,  by  William  D.  Kelley  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
referred  to  the  Committee  on  Coinage,  Weights,  and  Measures.  The  bill  was 
not  reported  until  January  9,  1872,  and  the  next  day  was  recommitted.  A  bill 
with  similar  title  was  reported  February  9  by  Hooper  of  Massachusetts,  and 
also  recommitted.  The  latter  bill  was  taken  up  April  9,  and  May  27  a  substi 
tute  offered  by  Hooper  was  passed  under  suspension  of  the  rules.  The  Senate 
referred  the  bill  to  the  Committee  on  Finance,  and  the  session  closed  without 
further  action.  December  16  the  bill  was  reported  in  the  Senate,  further 
amendments  being  reported  January  7,  1873.  The  bill  was  taken  up  on  the 
1 7th,  and  passed  with  amendments  the  same  day.  The  final  form  of  the  bill 
was  the  work  of  a  conference  committee.  The  omission  of  the  standard  sil 
ver  dollar  of  412^  grains  from  the  list  of  coins  led  later  to  the  charge  that  the 
act  aimed  to  demonetize  silver,  and  caused  the  advocates  of  silver  to  refer  to 
the  act  as  the  '•'crime  of  1873."  Only  those  sections  of  the  act  giving  the 
list  of  coins  are  inserted  here. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XVII.,  424-436,  passim. 
For  the  proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  4ist  Cong.,  3d  Sess., 
and  42d  Cong.,  and  the  Cong.  Record;  see  also  the  Record,  53d  Cong.,  ist 
Sess.,  pp.  1219-1224.  Knox' s  report  is  Senate  Misc.  Doc.  132,  4ist  Cong.,  2d 
Sess.;  the  correspondence  connected  with  it  is  in  House  Exec.  Doc.  307. 

An  Act  revising  and  amending  the  Laws  relative  to  the  Mints, 

Assay-offices,  and  Coinage  of  \,he  United  States. 
******** 

SEC.  14.  That  the  gold  coins  of  the  United  States  shall  be  a 
one-dollar  piece,  which,  at  the  standard  weight  of  twenty-five 
and  eight-tenths  grains,  shall  be  the  unit  of  value ;  a  quarter-eagle, 
or  two-and-a-half  dollar  piece ;  a  three-dollar  piece ;  a  half-eagle, 
or  five-dollar  piece;  an  eagle,  or  ten-dollar  piece;  and  a  double 
eagle,  or  twenty- dollar  piec.  .  .  .  ;  which  coins  shall  be  a  legal 
tender  in  all  payments  9t  their  nominal  value  when  not  below  the 
standard  weight  and  limit  of  tolerance  provided  in  this  act  for  the 


566  RESUMPTION    OF   SPECIE   PAYMENTS  [Jan.  14 

single  piece,  and,  when  reduced  in  weight,  below  said  standard 
and  tolerance,  shall  be  a  legal  tender  at  valuation  in  proportion 
to  their  actual  weight.  .  .  . 

SEC.  17.  That  the  silver  coins  of  the  United  States  shall  be  a 
trade-dollar,  a  half-dollar,  or  fifty-cent  piece,  a  quarter-dollar,  or 
twenty-five-cent  piece,  a  dime,  or  ten-cent  piece;  .  .  .  and  said 
coins  shall  be  a  legal  tender  at  their  nominal  value  for  any  amount 
not  exceeding  five  dollars  in  any  one  payment. 

SEC.  1 6.  That  the  minor  coins  of  the  United  States  shall  be 
a  five-cent  piece,  a  three-cent  piece,  and  a  one-cent  piece  .  .  .  ; 
which  coins  shall  be  a  legal  tender,  at  their  nominal  value,  for 
any  amount  not  exceeding  twenty-five  cents  in  any  one  payment. 

SEC.  17.  That  no  coins,  either  of  gold,  silver,  or  minor  coinage, 
shall  hereafter  be  issued  from  the  mint  other  than  those  of  the 
denominations,  standards,  and  weights  herein  set  forth. 


No.    175.    Resumption  of  Specie  Payments 

January  14,  1875 

ONE  result  of  the  financial  crisis  which  began  in  September,  1873,  was  the 
introduction,  in  the  next  session  of  Congress,  of  an  extraordinary  number  of 
bills  relating  to  banks  and  the  currency.  A  bill  providing  for  the  redemption 
and  reissue  of  United  States  notes,  with  gradual  payment  of  the  notes  in  coin 
or  bonds  after  January  i,  1876,  was  reported  in  the  Senate  by  Sherman 
March  23,  1874,  and  passed  that  body  April  6  and  the  House  April  14,  but 
was  vetoed  by  President  Grant.  A  bill  to  provide  for  the  resumption  of 
specie  payments,  prepared  in  the  first  instance  by  a  committee  of  the  Republi 
can  members  of  Congress,  and  submitted  by  them  to  the  Senate  Committee  on 
Finance,  was  reported  by  Sherman  December  21,  and  passed  the  Sen 
ate  the  next  day  by  a  vote  of  32  to  14.  The  bill  was  taken  up  in  the  House 
January  7,  1875,  an<^  Passed  the  same  day,  the  vote  being  136  to  98,  54  not 
voting.  President  Grant  communicated  his  approval  in  a  special  mes 
sage  to  the  Senate,  in  which  further  legislation  to  make  the  law  effective  was 
suggested. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XVIII.,  296.  For  the  pro 
ceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  43d  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Record.  On  resumption  see  Sherman,  Recollections,  I.,  chaps.  24- 
26;  II.,  chaps.  30  and  36;  annual  reports  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
(Sherman)  for  1877-1879;  House  Misc.  Doc.  48,  45th  Cong.,  2d  Sess. 


1875]  RESUMPTION   OF  SPECIE  PAYMENTS  567 

An  act  to  provide  for  the  resumption  of  specie  payments. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is 
hereby  authorized  and  required,  as  rapidly  as  practicable,  to 
cause  to  be  coined  at  the  mints  of  the  United  States,  silver  coins 
of  the  denominations  of  ten,  twenty-five,  and  fifty  cents,  of  stand 
ard  value,  and  to  issue  them  in  redemption  of  an  equal  number 
and  amount  of  fractional  currency  of  similar  denominations,  or,  at 
his  discretion,  he  may  issue  such  silver  coins  through  the  mints, 
the  subtreasuries,  public  depositaries,  and  post-offices  of  the 
United  States;  and,  upon  such  issue,  he  is  hereby  authorized 
and  required  to  redeem  an  equal  amount  of  such  fractional  cur 
rency,  until  the  whole  amount  of  such  fractional  currency  out 
standing  shall  be  redeemed. 

SEC.  2.  That  so  much  of  section  .  .  .  [3524]  ...  of  the 
Revised  Statutes  of  the  United  States  as  provides  for  a  charge  of 
one-fifth  of  one  per  centum  for  converting  standard  gold  bullion 
into  coin  is  hereby  repealed,  and  hereafter  no  charge  shall  be  made 
for  that  service. 

SEC.  3.  That  section  ...  [5177]  ...  of  the  Revised  Statutes 
of  the  United  States,  limiting  the  aggregate  amount  of  circulating- 
notes  of  national  banking-associations,  be,  and  is  hereby,  repealed ; 
and  each  existing  banking-association  may  increase  its  circulating- 
notes  in  accordance  with  existing  law  without  respect  to  said 
aggregate  limit;  and  new  banking-associations  may  be  organized 
in  accordance  with  existing  law  without  respect  to  said  aggregate 
limit;  and  the  provisions  of  law  for  the  withdrawal  and  redis 
tribution  of  national-bank  currency  among  the  several  States  and 
Territories  are  hereby  repealed.  And  whenever,  and  so  often, 
as  circulating-notes  shall  be  issued  to  any  such  banking-associa 
tion,  so  increasing  its  capital  or  circulating-notes,  or  so  newly 
organized  as  aforesaid,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  to  redeem  the  legal-tender  United  States  notes  in 
excess  only  of  three  hundred  million  of  dollars,  to  the  amount 
of  eighty  per  centum  of  the  sum  of  national-bank  notes  so  issued 
to  any  such  banking-association  as  aforesaid,  and  to  continue 
such  redemption  as  such  circulating-notes  are  issued  until  there 
shall  be  outstanding  the  sum  of  three  hundred  million  dollars 
of  such  legal-tender  United  States  notes,  and  no  more.  And  on 


568  SECOND    CIVIL   RIGHTS   ACT  [March  i 

and  after  .  .  .  [January  i,  1879]  .  .  .  ,  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  shall  redeem,  in  coin,  the  United  States  legal-tender 
notes  then  outstanding  on  their  presentation  for  redemption,  at 
the  office  of  the  assistant  treasurer  of  the  United  States  in  the  city 
of  New  York,1  in  sums  of  not  less  than  fifty  dollars.  And  to  enable 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  prepare  and  provide  for  the 
redemption  in  this  act  authorized  or  required,  he  is  authorized 
to  use  any  surplus  revenues,  from  time  to  time,  in  the  Treasury 
not  otherwise  appropriated,  and  to  issue,  sell,  and  dispose  of, 
at  not  less  than  par,  in  coin,  either  of  the  descriptions  of  bonds 
of  the  United  States  described  in  the  ...  [Funding  Act  of  July 
14,  1870]  .  .  .  ,  with  like  qualities,  privileges,  and  exemptions, 
to  the  extent  necessary  to  carry  this  act  into  full  effect,  and  to 
use  the  proceeds  thereof  for  the  purposes  aforesaid.  .  .  . 


No.  176.     Second  Civil  Rights  Act 

March  i,  1875 

AN  amendment  offered  by  Sumner  to  the  amnesty  act  of  May  22,  1872 
[No.  173],  forbidding  discrimination  against  negroes  in  certain  public  places 
and  elsewhere,  was  lost  by  a  vote  of  29  to  30.  A  bill  of  similar  purport  was 
called  up  in  the  Senate  December  n,  1872,  and  passed  over.  Another  bill 
passed  the  Senate  April  30,  1873,  but  failed  in  the  House.  A  third  bill  was 
introduced  in  the  House  December  18,  by  Butler  of  Massachusetts,  from  the 
Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  and  January  7, 1874,  was  recommitted.  A  fourth 
civil  rights  bill  passed  the  Senate  May  22,  but  was  not  acted  on  by  the  House. 
A  substitute  for  Butler's  bill  was  reported  December  16,  and  February  4,  1875, 
passed  the  House  with  amendments,  the  vote  being  162  to  100,  27  not  voting. 
The  bill  was  reported  in  the  Senate  on  the  i5th  without  amendment,  and 
passed  the  same  day  by  a  vote  of  38  to  26. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XVIII.,  335-337.  For 
the  proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  43d  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  and 
the  Cong.  Record. 

An  act  to  protect  all  citizens  in  their  civil  and  legal  rights. 

Whereas,  it  is  essential  to  just  government  we  recognize  the 
equality  of  all  men  before  the  law,  and  hold  that  it  is  the  duty  of 
government  in  its  dealings  with  the  people  to  mete  out  equal  and 

1  An  act  of  March  3,  1887,  chap.  378,  added  San  Francisco.  —  ED. 


1875]  SECOND    CIVIL   RIGHTS   ACT  569 

exact  justice  to  all,  of  whatever  nativity,  race,  color,  or  persuasion, 
religious  or  political;  and  it  being  the  appropriate  object  of  legis 
lation  to  enact  great  fundamental  principles  into  law:  Therefore, 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  all  persons  within  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  United  States  shall  be  entitled  to  the  full  and  equal  enjoyment 
of  the  accommodations,  advantages,  facilities,  and  privileges  of 
inns,  public  conveyances  on  land  or  water,  theaters,  and  other 
places  of  public  amusement;  subject  only  to  the  conditions  and 
limitations  established  by  law,  and  applicable  alike  to  citizens  of 
every  race  and  color,  regardless  of  any  previous  condition  of 
servitude. 

SEC.  2.  That  any  person  who  shall  violate  the  foregoing  section 
by  denying  to  any  citizen,  except  for  reasons  by  law  applicable  to 
citizens  of  every  race  and  color,  and  regardless  of  any  previous 
condition  of  servitude,  the  full  enjoyment  of  any  of  the  accommo 
dations,  advantages,  facilities,  or  privileges  in  said  section  enu 
merated,  or  by  aiding  or  inciting  such  denial,  shall,  for  every  such 
offense,  forfeit  and  pay  the  sum  of  five  hundred  dollars  to  the 
person  aggrieved  thereby,  to  be  recovered  in  an  action  of  debt, 
with  full  costs ;  and  shall  also,  for  every  such  offense,  be  deemed 
guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and,  upon  conviction  thereof,  shall  be 
fined  not  less  than  five  hundred  nor  more  than  one  thousand  dol 
lars,  or  shall  be  imprisoned  not  less  than  thirty  days  nor  more 
than  one  year  .  .  . 

SEC.  3.  That  the  district  and  circuit  courts  of  the  United 
States  shall  have,  exclusively  of  the  courts  of  the  several  States, 
cognizance  of  all  crimes  and  offenses  against,  and  violations  of, 
the  provisions  of  this  act  .  .  . 

SEC.  4.  That  no  citizen  possessing  all  other  qualifications  which 
are  or  may  be  prescribed  by  law  shall  be  disqualified  for  service 
as  grand  or  petit  juror  in  any  court  of  the  United  States,  or  of 
any  State,  on  account  of  race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of  servi 
tude;  and  any  officer  or  other  person  charged  with  any  duty  in 
the  selection  or  summoning  of  jurors  who  shall  exclude  or  fail  to 
summon  any  citizen  for  the  cause  aforesaid  shall,  on  conviction 
thereof,  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and  be  fined  not 
more  than  five  thousand  dollars. 

*  *  *  *  #.#  *  * 


570  ELECTORAL   COUNT   ACT  [Jan.  25 

No.   177.     Electoral  Count  Act 

January  29,  1877 

THE  result  of  the  presidential  election  of  1876  turned  on  the  counting  of 
the  electoral  votes  of  South  Carolina,  Florida,  Louisiana,  and  Oregon,  from 
each  of  which  States  there  were  double  r3turns.  December  7, 1876,  George 
W.  McCrary  of  Iowa  offered  in  the  House  a  resolution  for  the  appointment  of 
a  committee  of  five,  to  act  with  a  similar  committee  of  the  Senate,  with  instruc 
tions  to  report  a  bill  for  the  counting  of  the  electoral  vote.  The  Committee 
on  the  Judiciary,  to  which  the  resolution  was  referred,  reported  on  the  i4th  a 
substitute  increasing  the  number  of  members  to  seven,  which  resolution  was 
agreed  to.  A  similar  committee  of  seven  was  appointed  by  the  Senate 
on  the  1 8th.  A  committee  was  also  appointed  in  the  Senate  to  investi 
gate  the  recent  election,  and  in  the  House  to  inquire  into  the  powers  of 
the  House  in  regard  to  counting  the  electoral  vote.  January  18  the  joint  com 
mittee  reported  a  bill  to  regulate  the  electoral  count.  The  bill  passed  the 
Senate  without  amendment  on  the  24th  by  a  vote  of  47  to  17,  and  the  House 
on  the  26th  by  a  vote  of  191  to  86,  14  not  voting.  The  approval  of  President 
Grant  was  communicated  in  a  special  message.  The  count  began  February  i , 
and  the  result  was  announced  in  the  early  morning  of  March  2.  The  result 
of  the  count  showed  185  votes  for  Hayes  and  Wheeler,  the  Republican  candi 
dates,  and  184  votes  for  Tilden  and  Hendricks,  the  Democratic  candidates. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XIX.,  227-229.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  44th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Record.  The  report  of  the  commission  is  in  the  Record,  ibid.,  Vol.  5, 
Part  IV. ;  it  was  also  published  separately.  A  large  amount  of  documentary 
evidence  was  introduced  in  the  debates.  The  other  documentary  literature  is 
extensive. 

An  act  to  provide  for  and  regulate  the  counting  of  votes  for  President  and 
Vice-President,  and  the  decision  of  questions  arising  thereon,  for  the  term 
commencing  .  .  .  [March  4,  1877], 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa 
tives  shall  meet  in  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  at  the 
hour  of  one  o'clock  post  meridian,  on  the  first  Thursday  in  Feb 
ruary,  .  .  .  [1877];  and  the  President  of  the  Senate  shall  be  their 
presiding  officer.  Two  tellers  shall  be  previously  appointed  on 
the  part  of  the  Senate,  and  two  on  the  part  of  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  to  whom  shall  be  handed,  as  they  are  opened  by  the 
President  of  the  Senate,  all  the  certificates,  and  papers  purporting 
to  be  certificates,  of  the  electoral  votes,  which  certificates  and 
papers  shall  be  opened,  presented,  and  acted  upon  in  the  alpha- 


1877]  ELECTORAL   COUNT  ACT  571 

betical  order  of  the  States,  beginning  with  the  letter  A;  and  said 
tellers  having  then  read  the  same  in  the  presence  and  hearing  of 
the  two  houses,  shall  make  a  list  of  the  votes  as  they  shall  appear 
from  the  said  certificates ;  and  the  votes  having  been  ascertained 
and  counted  as  in  this  act  provided,  the  result  of  the  same  shall 
be  delivered  to  the  President  of  the  Senate,  who  shall  thereupon 
announce  the  state  of  the  vote,  and  the  names  of  the  persons, 
if  any,  elected,  which  announcement  shall  be  deemed  a  sufficient 
declaration  of  the  persons  elected  President  and  Vice-President 
of  the  United  States,  and,  together  with  a  list  of  the  votes,  be 
entered  on  the  journals  of  the  two  houses.  Upon  such  reading 
of  any  such  certificate  or  paper  when  there  shall  be  only  one  return 
from  a  State,  the  President  of  the  Senate  shall  call  for  objections, 
if  any.  Every  objection  shall  be  made  in  writing,  and  shall  state 
clearly  and  concisely,  and  without  argument,  the  ground  thereof, 
and  shall  be  signed  by  at  least  one  Senator  and  one  member  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  before  the  same  shall  be  received. 
When  all  objections  so  made  to  any  vote  or  paper  from  a  State 
shall  have  been  received  and  read,  the  Senate  shall  thereupon 
withdraw,  and  such  objections  shall  be  submitted  to  the  Senate 
for  its  decision ;  and  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
shall,  in  like  manner,  submit  such  objections  to  the  House  of 
Representatives  for  its  decision;  and  no  electoral  vote  or  votes 
from  any  State  from  which  but  one  return  has  been  received  shall 
be  rejected  except  by  the  affirmative  vote  of  the  two  Houses. 
When  the  two  Houses  have  voted,  they  shall  immediately  again 
meet,  and  the  presiding  officer  shall  then  announce  the  decision 
of  the  question  submitted. 

SEC.  2.  That  if  more  than  one  return,  or  paper  purporting  to 
be  a  return  from  a  State,  shall  have  been  received  by  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  Senate,  purporting  to  be  the  certificates  of  electoral 
votes  given  at  the  last  preceding  election  for  President  and  Vice- 
President  in  such  State,  (unless  they  shall  be  duplicates  of  the 
same  return,)  all  such  returns  and  papers  shall  be  opened  by  him 
in  the  presence  of  the  two  Houses  when  met  as  aforesaid,  and  read 
by  the  tellers,  and  all  such  returns  and  papers  shall  thereupon  be 
submitted  to  the  judgment  and  decision  as  to  which  is  the  true 
and  lawful  electoral  vote  of  such  State,  of  a  commission  consti 
tuted  as  follows,  namely:  During  the  session  of  each  House  on 


572  ELECTORAL   COUNT  ACT  [Jan.  29 

the  Tuesday  next  preceding  the  first  Thursday  in  February  .  .  . 
[1877]  .  .  .  ,  each  House  shall,  by  viva  voce  vote,  appoint  five 
of  its  members,  who  with  the  five  associate  justices  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  to  be  ascertained  as  hereinafter  pro 
vided,  shall  constitute  a  commission  for  the  decision  of  all  questions 
upon  or  in  respect  of  such  double  returns  named  in  this  section. 
On  the  Tuesday  next  preceding  the  first  Thursday  in  February 
.  .  .  [1877]  .  .  .  ,  or  as  soon  thereafter  as  may  be,  the  associate 
justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  now  assigned 
to  the  first,  third,  eighth,  and  ninth  circuits  shall  select,  in  such 
manner  as  a  majority  of  them  shall  deem  fit,  another  of  the  as 
sociate  justices  of  said  court,  which  five  persons  shall  be  members 
of  said  commission ;  and  the  person  longest  in  commission  of  said 
five  justices  shall  be  the  president  of  said  commission.  .  .  . 
All  the  certificates  and  papers  purporting  to  be  certificates  of  the 
electoral  votes  of  each  State  shall  be  opened,  in  the  alphabetical 
order  of  the  States,  as  provided  in  section  one  of  this  act;  and 
when  there  shall  be  more  than  one  such  certificate  or  paper,  as 
the  certificates  and  papers  from  such  State  shall  so  be  opened, 
(excepting  duplicates  of  the  same  return,)  they  shall  be  read  by 
the  tellers,  and  thereupon  the  President  of  the  Senate  shall  call 
for  objections,  if  any.  Every  objection  shall  be  made  in  writing, 
and  shall  state  clearly  and  concisely,  and  without  argument,  the 
ground  thereof,  and  shall  be  signed  by  at  least  one  Senator  and 
one  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  before  the  same 
shall  be  received.  When  all  such  objections  so  made  to  any 
certificate,  vote,  or  paper  from  a  State  shall  have  been  received 
and  read,  all  such  certificates,  votes,  and  papers  so  objected  to, 
and  all  papers  accompanying  the  same,  together  with  such  ob 
jections,  shall  be  forthwith  submitted  to  said  commission,  which 
shall  proceed  to  consider  the  same,  with  the  same  powers,  if  any, 
now  possessed  for  that  purpose  by  the  two  Houses  acting  separately 
or  together,  and,  by  a  majority  of  votes,  decide  whether  any  and 
what  votes  from  such  State  are  the  votes  provided  for  by  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States,  and  how  many  and  what  persons 
were  duly  appointed  electors  in  such  State,  and  may  therein  take 
into  view  such  petitions,  depositions,  and  other  papers,  if  any, 
as  shall,  by  the  Constitution  and  now  existing  law,  be  competent 
and  pertinent  in  such  consideration;  which  decision  shall  be 


1877]  COINAGE   OF   STANDARD    SILVER   DOLLAR  573 

made  in  writing,  stating  briefly  the  ground  thereof,  and  signed 
by  the  members  of  said  commission  agreeing  therein ;  whereupon 
the  two  houses  shall  again  meet,  and  such  decision  shall  be  read 
and  entered  in  the  journal  of  each  House,  and  the  counting  of 
the  votes  shall  proceed  in  conformity  therewith,  unless,  upon 
objection  made  thereto  in  writing  by  at  least  five  Senators  and 
five  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  the  two  Houses 
shall  separately  concur  in  ordering  otherwise,  in  which  case  such 
concurrent  order  shall  govern.  No  votes  or  papers  from  any 
other  State  shall  be  acted  upon  until  the  objections  previously 
made  to  the  votes  or  papers  from  any  State  shall  have  been  finally 
disposed  of. 

******** 

SEC.  6.  That  nothing  in  this  act  shall  be  held  to  impair  or 
affect  any  right  now  existing  under  the  Constitution  and  laws  to 
question,  by  proceeding  in  the  judicial  courts  of  the  United  States, 
the  right  or  title  of  the  person  who  shall  be  declared  elected,  or 
who  shall  claim  to  be  President  or  Vice-President  of  the  United 

States,  if  any  such  right  exists. 

******** 


No.   178.      Coinage  of  the  Standard  Silver 

Dollar 

February  28,  1878 

THE  coinage  act  of  February  12,  1873  [No.  174],  omitted  the  silver  dol 
lar  from  the  list  of  pieces  thereafter  to  be  coined,  but  retained  the  trade  dol 
lar.  A  bill  to  provide  for  the  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver  dollars  was 
introduced  in  the  House  December  13,  1876,  by  Richard  P.  Bland  of  Mis 
souri,  as  a  substitute  for  a  bill  "to  utilize  the  products  of  gold  and  silver 
mines,"  introduced  June  3.  The  bill  passed  the  House  the  same  day  by  a 
vote  of  167  to  53,  69  not  voting.  In  the  Senate  the  bill  was  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  Finance,  which  reported  it  January  16,  1877,  without  recom 
mendation,  pending  the  report  of  the  silver  commission.  November  5,  by  a 
vote  of  164  to  34,  92  not  voting,  the  rules  were  suspended  to  allow  Bland  to 
introduce  and  the  House  to  pass  a  free  coinage  bill.1  The  bill  was  taken  up 

1  "The  previous  question  being  ordered  and  the  rules  suspended,  a  single  vote 
would  introduce  the  bill  without  a  reference  to  a  committee,  and  would  pass  it 


574  COINAGE   OF   STANDARD    SILVER  DOLLAR    [Feb.  2S 

in  the  Senate  January  28  and  debated  until  February  15.  The  Senate  added 
sections  2  and  3  of  the  act,  the  provisos  of  section  i,  and,  on  motion  of  Wil 
liam  B.  Allison  of  Iowa,  the  limitation  on  the  amount  of  coinage,  the  vote  on 
the  latter  amendment  being  49  to  22.  The  final  vote  in  the  Senate  was  48  to 
21,  7  not  voting.  February  21  the  House  concurred  in  the  Senate  amend 
ments.  On  the  28th  the  bill  was  vetoed  by  President  Hayes,  but  was  passed 
over  the  veto,  in  the  House  by  a  vote  of  196  to  73,  23  not  voting;  in  the 
Senate  by  a  vote  of  46  to  19,  n  not  voting.  The  coinage  provision  of  the  act 
was  repealed  by  section  5  of  the  act  of  July  14,  1890  [No.  182,  post]. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XX.,  25,  26.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  45th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Record.  See  House  Misc.  Doc.  27;  Senate  Exec.  Doc.  3,  5oth  Cong., 
2d  Sess.;  Sherman,  Recollections,  II.,  chaps.  31  and  32,  and  annual  report  as 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  December,  1877. 

An  act  to  authorize  the  coinage  of  the  standard  silver  dollar,  and  to  restore 
its  legal-tender  character. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  there  shall  be  coined,  at  the  several 
mints  of  the  United  States,  silver  dollars  of  the  weight  of  four 
hundred  and  twelve  and  a  half  grains  Troy  of  standard  silver,  as 
provided  in  the  act  of  ...  [January  18,  1837]  .  .  .  ,  on  which 
shall  be  the  devices  and  superscriptions  provided  by  said  act; 
which  coins  together  with  all  silver  dollars  heretofore  coined  by  the 
United  States,  of  like  weight  and  fineness,  shall  be  a  legal  tender, 
at  their  nominal  value,  for  all  debts  and  dues  public  and  private, 
except  where  otherwise  expressly  stipulated  in  the  contract. 
And  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is  authorized  and  directed  to 
purchase,  from  time  to  time,  silver  bullion,  at  the  market  price 
thereof,  not  less  than  two  million  dollars  worth  per  month,  nor 
more  than  four  million  dollars  worth  per  month,  and  cause  the 
same  to  be  coined  monthly,  as  fast  as  so  purchased,  into  such 
dollars.  .  .  .  And  any  gain  or  seigniorage  arising  from  this 
coinage  shall  be  accounted  for  and  paid  into  the  Treasury,  as 
provided  under  existing  laws  relative  to  the  subsidiary  coinage: 
Provided,  That  the  amount  of  money  at  any  one  time  invested 
in  such  silver  bullion,  exclusive  of  such  resulting  coin,  shall  not 
exceed  five  million  dollars.  .  .  . 

SEC.  2.  That  immediately  after  the  passage  of  this  act,  the  Presi 
dent  shall  invite  the  governments  of  the  countries  composing  the 

without  any  power  of  amendment,  without  the  usual  reading  at  three  separate 
times."  (Sherman,  Recollections,  II.,  603.) 


1878]  CIVIL  SERVICE  ACT  575 

Latin  Union,  so-called,  and  of  such  other  European  nations  as  he 
may  deem  advisable,  to  join  the  United  States  in  a  conference  to 
adopt  a  common  ratio  between  gold  and  silver,  for  the  purpose  of 
establishing,  internationally,  the  use  of  bi-metallic  money,  and 
securing  fixity  of  relative  value  between  those  metals;  such  con 
ference  to  be  held  at  such  place,  in  Europe  or  in  the  United  States, 
at  such  time  within  six  months,  as  may  be  mutually  agreed  upon 
by  the  executives  of  the  governments  joining  in  the  same,  whenever 
the  governments  so  invited,  or  any  three  of  them,  shall  have  signi 
fied  their  willingness  to  unite  in  the  same. 

The  President  shall,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the 
Senate,  appoint  three  commissioners,  who  shall  attend  such  con 
ference  on  behalf  of  the  United  States,  and  shall  report  the  doings 
thereof  to  the  President,  who  shall  transmit  the  same  to  Congress. 
******** 

SEC.  3.  That  any  holder  of  the  coin  authorized  by  this  act  may 
deposit  the  same  with  the  Treasurer  or  any  assistant  treasurer  of 
the  United  States,  in  sums  not  less  than  ten  dollars,  and  receive 
therefor  certificates  of  not  less  than  ten  dollars  each,  corresponding 
with  the  denominations  of  the  United  States  notes.  The  coin  de 
posited  for  or  representing  the  certificates  shall  be  retained  in  the 
Treasury  for  the  payment  of  the  same  on  demand.  Said  certifi 
cates  shall  be  receivable  for  customs,  taxes,  and  all  public  dues, 
and,  when  so  received,  may  be  reissued. 

******** 


No.   179.     Civil  Service  Act 

January  16,   1883 

IN  his  annual  message  of  December  5,  1870,  President  Grant  urged  the 
attention  of  Congress  to  "  a  reform  In  the  civil  service  of  the  country."  In 
accordance  with  this  recommendation,  the  sundry  civil  appropriation  act  of 
March  3,  1871,  authorized  the  President  to  prescribe  regulations  for  admis 
sion  to  the  civil  service.  A  civil  service  commission  was  appointed,  and  for 
two  years  appropriations  were  made  for  its  support.  The  continuance  of  the 
appropriations  was  urged  by  Grant,  and  again  by  President  Hayes  in  his  an 
nual  messages 'of  1879  and  1880,  but  without  inducing  congressional  action. 
The  assassination  of  President  Garfield  called  public  attention  forcibly  to  the 


576  CIVIL  SERVICE   ACT  [Jan.  16 

evils  of  the  existing  system  of  appointment  and  removal,  and  the  annual  mes 
sage  of  President  Arthur,  December  6,  1881,  brought  the  subject  of  civil 
service  reform  strongly  before  Congress.  A  bill  "to  regulate  and  improve 
the  civil  service"  was  introduced  in  the  Senate  December  6,  1881,  by  George 
H.  Pendleton  of  Ohio,  and  on  January  n,  1882,  was  referred,  together  with 
a  bill  "to  prevent  extortion  from  persons  in  the  public  service,  and  bribery 
and  coercion  by  such  persons,"  to  the  Committee  on  the  Civil  Service  and 
Retrenchment.  The  bill  was  reported  with  amendments  March  29,  the  com 
mittee  report  to  accompany  it  not  being  submitted  until  May  15.  The 
session  closed  without  further  action.  The  Pendleton  bill  was  taken  up 
December  n  and  formed  the  principal  subject  of  debate  until  the  27th, 
when,  with  various  amendments,  it  passed  the  Senate  by  a  vote  of  38  to  5, 
33  not  voting.  The  bill  was  reported  in  the  House  without  amendment  Jan 
uary  4,  1883,  read  three  times  and  passed,  the  final  vote  being  155  to  46,  88 
not  voting. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XXII.,  403-407.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  47th  Cong.,  ist  and  2d  Sess., 
and  the  Cong.  Record.  Pendleton's  report  of  May  15  in  Senate  Report  576. 
The  annual  reports  of  the  Civil  Service  Commission  are  the  primary  authori 
ties  on  the  operation  of  the  act ;  see  also  the  Proceedings  of  the  National  Civil 
Service  Reform  League.  The  pamphlet  and  periodical  literature  is  extensive. 
On  the  earlier  history  of  the  movement  see  House  Report  47,  4oth  Cong.,  2d 
Sess.  (Jenckes's  report);  Senate  Exec.  Doc.  10,  426!  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  and 
Senate  Exec.  Doc.  53  (same  in  House  Exec.  Doc.  221),  43d  Cong.,  ist  Sess. 
(commission  reports);  Senate  Report  289,  44th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.  (BoutwelPs 
report);  House  Exec.  Doc.  i,  Part  i,  46th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.  (Eaton's  report); 
House  Exec.  Doc.  i,  Part  8,  ibid.,  and  House  Exec.  Doc.  94,  46th  Con-;.,  3d 
Sess.  (New  York  regulations);  Senate  Report  872,  46th  Cong.,  3d  Sess. 
(Pendleton's  report).  See  also  Senate  Report  2373,  5oth  Cong.,  ist  Sess. 

An  act  to  regulate  and  improve  the  civil  service  of  the  United  States. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  the  President  is  authorized  to  appoint, 
by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  three  persons, 
not  more  than  two  of  whom  shall  be  adherents  of  the  same  party, 
as  Civil  Service  Commissioners,  and  said  three  commissioners 
shall  constitute  the  United  States  Civil  Service  Commission.  Said 
commissioners  shall  hold  no  other  official  place  under  the  United 

States. 

******** 

SEC.  2.     That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  said  commissioners: 

FIRST.     To  aid  the  President,  as  he  may  request,  in  preparing 

suitable  rules  for  carrying  this  act  into  effect,  and  when  said  rules 

shall  have  been  promulgated  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  all  officers 

of  the  United  States  in  the  departments  and  offices  to  which  any 


1883]  CIVIL   SERVICE   ACT  577 

such  rules  may  relate  to  aid,  in  all  proper  ways,  in  carrying  said 
rules,  and  any  modifications  thereof,  into  effect. 

SECOND.  And,  among  other  things,  said  rules  shall  provide  and 
declare,  as  nearly  as  the  conditions  of  good  administration  will 
warrant,  as  follows : 

First,  for  open,  competitive  examinations  for  testing  the  fitness 
of  applicants  for  the  public  service  now  classified  or  to  be  classi 
fied  hereunder.  Such  examinations  shall  be  practical  in  their 
character,  and  so  far  as  may  be  shall  relate  to  those  matters  which 
will  fairly  test  the  relative  capacity  and  fitness  of  the  persons 
examined  to  discharge  the  duties  of  the  service  into  which  they 
seek  to  be  appointed. 

Second,  that  all  the  offices,  places,  and  employments  so  arranged 
or  to  be  arranged  in  classes  shall  be  filled  by  selections  according 
to  grade  from  among  those  graded  highest  as  the  results  of  such 
competitive  examinations. 

Third,  appointments  to  the  public  service  aforesaid  in  the  de 
partments  at  Washington  shall  be  apportioned  among  the  several 
States  and  Territories  and  the  District  of  Columbia  upon  the 
basis  of  population  as  ascertained  at  the  last  preceding  census.  .  .  . 

Fourth,  that  there  shall  be  a  period  of  probation  before  any 
absolute  appointment  or  employment  aforesaid. 

Fifth,  that  no  person  in  the  public  service  is  for  that  reason 
under  any  obligations  to  contribute  to  any  political  fund,  or  to 
render  any  political  service,  and  that  he  will  not  be  removed  or 
otherwise  prejudiced  for  refusing  to  do  so. 

Sixth,  that  no  person  in  said  service  has  any  right  to  use  his 
official  authority  or  influence  to  coerce  the  political  actio.n  of  any 
person  or  body. 

Seventh,  there  shall  be  non-competitive  examinations  in  all 
proper  cases  before  the  commission,  when  competent  persons  do 
not  compete,  after  notice  has  been  given  of  the  existence  of  the 
vacancy,  under  such  rules  as  may  be  prescribed  by  the  commis 
sioners  as  to  the  manner  of  giving  notice. 

Eighth,  that  notice  shall  be  given  in  writing  by  the  appointing 
power  to  said  commission  of  the  persons  selected  for  appointment 
or  employment  from  among  those  who  have  been  examined,  of 
the  place  of  residence  of  such  persons,  of  the  rejection  of  any 
such  persons  after  probation,  of  transfers,  resignations,  and  re- 

2P 


578  CIVIL  SERVICE  ACT  [Jan.  16 

movals,  and  of  the  date  thereof,  and  a  record  of  the  same  shall 
be  kept  by  said  commission.  .  .  . 

THIRD.  Said  commission  shall,  subject  to  the  rules  that  may  be 
made  by  the  President,  make  regulations  for,  and  have  control  of, 
such  examinations,  and,  through  its  members  or  the  examiners, 
it  shall  supervise  and  preserve  the  records  of  the  same  .  .  . 

FOURTH.  Said  commission  may  make  investigations  concerning 
the  facts,  and  may  report  upon  all  matters  touching  the  enforce 
ment  and  effects  of  said  rules  and  regulations,  and  concerning 
the  action  of  any  examiner  or  board  of  examiners  hereinafter 
provided  for,  and  its  own  subordinates,  and  those  in  the  public 
service,  in  respect  to  the  execution  of  this  act. 

FIFTH.  Said  commission  shall  make  an  annual  report  to  the 
President  for  transmission  to  Congress,  showing  its  own  action, 
the  rules  and  regulations  and  the  exceptions  thereto  in  force, 
the  practical  effects  thereof,  and  any  suggestions  it  may  approve 
for  the  more  effectual  accomplishment  of  the  purposes  of  this  act. 

SEC.  3.  That  said  commission  is  authorized  to  employ  a  chief 
examiner,  a  part  of  whose  duty  it  shall  be,  under  its  direction,  to 
act  with  the  examining  boards,  so  far  as  practicable,  whether  at 
Washington  or  elsewhere,  and  to  secure  accuracy,  uniformity,  and 
justice  in  all  their  proceedings,  which  shall  be  at  all  times  open 
to  him.  .  .  .  The  commission  shall,  at  Washington,  and  in  one 
or  more  places  in  each  State  and  Territory  where  examinations 
are  to  take  place,  designate  and  select  a  suitable  number  of  persons, 
not  less  than  three,  in  the  official  service  of  the  United  States, 
residing  in  said  State  or  Territory,  after  consulting  the  head  of  the 
department  or  office  in  which  such  persons  serve,  to  be  members 
of  boards  of  examiners.  .  .  .  Such  boards  of  examiners  shall  be 
so  located  as  to  make  it  reasonably  convenient  and  inexpensive 
for  applicants  to  attend  before  them ;  and  where  there  are  persons 
to  be  examined  in  any  State  or  Territory,  examinations  shall  be 
held  therein  at  least  twice  in  each  year.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the 
collector,  postmaster,  and  other  officers  of  the  United  States,  at 
any  place  outside  of  the  District  of  Columbia  where  examinations 
are  directed  by  the  President  or  by  said  board  to  be  held,  to  allow 
the  reasonable  use  of  the  public  buildings  for  holding  such  ex 
aminations,  and  in  all  proper  ways  to  facilitate  the  same. 


1883]  CIVIL   SERVICE   ACT  579 

SEC.  6.  That  within  sixty  days  after  the  passage  of  this  act  it 
shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in  as  near  con 
formity  as  may  be  to  the  classification  of  certain  clerks  now  exist 
ing  under  .  .  .  [Section  163]  ...  of  the  Revised  Statutes,  to 
arrange  in  classes  the  several  clerks  and  persons  employed  by  the 
collector,  naval  officer,  surveyor,  and  appraisers,  or  either  of  them, 
or  being  in  the  public  service,  at  their  respective  offices  in  each 
customs  district  where  the  whole  number  of  said  clerks  and  persons 
shall  be  all  together  as  many  as  fifty.  And  thereafter,  from  time 
to  time,  on  the  direction  of  the  President,  said  Secretary  shall  make 
the  like  classification  or  arrangement  of  clerks  and  persons  so 
employed,  in  connection  with  any  said  office  or  offices,  in  any  other 
customs  district.  And,  upon  like  request,  and  for  the  purposes 
of  this  act,  said  Secretary  shall  arrange  in  one  or  more  of  said 
classes,  or  of  existing  classes,  any  other  clerks,  agents,  or  persons 
employed  under  his  department  in  any  said  district  not  now 
classified;  and  every  such  arrangement  and  classification  upon 
being  made  shall  be  reported  to  the  President. 

Second.  Within  said  sixty  days  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Post 
master-General,  in  general  conformity  to  said  .  .  .  [Section 
163]  .  .  .  ,  to  separately  arrange  in  classes  the  several  clerks 
and  persons  employed,  or  in  the  public  service,  at  each  post-office, 
or  under  any  postmaster  of  the  United  States,  where  the  whole 
number  of  said  clerks  and  persons  shall  together  amount  to  as 
many  as  fifty.  And  thereafter,  from  time  to  time,  on  the  direction 
of  the  President,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Postmaster-General 
to  arrange  in  like  classes  the  clerks  and  persons  so  employed  in 
the  postal  service  in  connection  with  any  other  post-office;  and 
every  such  arrangement  and  classification  upon  being  made  shall 
be  reported  to  the  President. 

Third.  That  from  time  to  time  said  Secretary,  the  Postmaster- 
General,  and  each  of  the  heads  of  departments  mentioned  in  ... 
[Section  158]  ...  of  the  Revised  Statutes,  and  each  head  of  an 
office,  shall,  on  the  direction  of  the  President,  and  for  facilitating 
the  execution  of  this  act,  respectively  revise  any  then  existing 
classification  or  arrangement  of  those  in  their  respective  depart 
ments  and  offices,  and  shall,  for  the  purposes  of  the  examination 
herein  provided  for,  include  in  one  or  more  of  such  classes,  so  far 
as  practicable,  subordinate  places,  clerks,  and  officers  in  the  public 


580  CIVIL   SERVICE  ACT  [Jan.  16 

service  pertaining  to  their  respective  departments  not  before  classi 
fied  for  examination. 

SEC.  7.  That  after  the  expiration  of  six  months  from  the  pas 
sage  of  this  act  no  officer  or  clerk  shall  be  appointed,  and  no  per 
son  shall  be  employed  to  enter  or  be  promoted  in  either  of  the 
said  classes  now  existing,  or  that  may  be  arranged  hereunder  pur 
suant  to  said  rules,  until  he  has  passed  an  examination,  or  is  shown 
to  be  specially  exempted  from  such  examination  in  conformity 
herewith.  But  nothing  herein  contained  shall  be  construed  to 
take  from  those  honorably  discharged  from  the  military  or  naval 
service  any  preference  conferred  by  ...  [Section  1754]  ...  of 
the  Revised  Statutes,  nor  to  take  from  the  President  any  authority 
not  inconsistent  with  this  act  conferred  by  ...  [Section  1753] 
.  .  .  of  said  statutes;  nor  shall  any  officer  not  in  the  executive 
branch  of  the  government,  or  any  person  merely  employed  as  a 
laborer  or  workman,  be  required  to  be  classified  hereunder;  nor, 
unless  by  direction  of  the  Senate,  shall  any  person  who  has  been 
nominated  for  confirmation  by  the  Senate  be  required  to  be  classi 
fied  or  to  pass  an  examination. 

SEC.  8.  That  no  person  habitually  using  intoxicating  beverages 
to  excess  shall  be  appointed  to,  or  retained  in,  any  office,  appoint 
ment,  or  employment  to  which  the  provisions  of  this  act  are 
applicable. 

SEC.  9.  That  whenever  there  are  already  two  or  more  members 
of  a  family  in  the  public  service  in  the  grades  covered  by  this  act, 
no  other  member  of  such  family  shall  be  eligible  to  appointment 
to  any  of  said  grades. 

SEC.  10.  That  no  recommendation  of  any  person  who  shall 
apply  for  office  or  place  under  the  provisions  of  this  *ct  which 
may  be  given  by  any  Senator  or  member  of  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  except  as  to  the  character  or  residence  of  the  applicant, 
shall  be  received  or  considered  by  any  person  concerned  in  making 
any  examination  or  appointment  under  this  act. 

SEC.  n.  That  no  Senator,  or  Representative,  or  Territorial 
Delegate  of  the  Congress,  or  Senator,  Representative,  or  Dele 
gate  elect,  or  any  officer  or  employee  of  either  of  said  houses, 
and  no  executive,  judicial,  military,  or  naval  officer  of  the  United 
States,  and  no  clerk  or  employee  of  any  department,  branch  or 
bureau  of  the  executive,  judicial,  or  military  or  naval  service  of 


1883]  INTERSTATE   COMMERCE  ACT  581 

the  United  States,  shall,  directly  or  indirectly,  solicit  or  receive, 
or  be  in  any  manner  concerned  in  soliciting  or  receiving,  any 
assessment,  subscription,  or  contribution  for  any  political  purpose 
whatever,  from  any  officer,  clerk,  or  employee  of  the  United  States, 
or  any  department,  branch,  or  bureau  thereof,  or  from  any  person 
receiving  any  salary  or  compensation  from  moneys  derived  from 
the  Treasury  of  the  United  States. 

SEC.  12.  That  no  person  shall,  in  any  room  or  building  occu 
pied  in  the  discharge  of  official  duties  by  any  officer  or  employee 
of  the  United  States  mentioned  in  this  act,  or  in  any  navy-yard, 
fort,  or  arsenal,  solicit  in  any  manner  whatever,  or  receive  any  con 
tribution  of  money  or  any  other  thing  of  value  for  any  political 
purpose  whatever. 


No.   1 80.     Interstate  Commerce  Act 

February  4,  1887 

A  BILL  to  regulate  interstate  commerce  was  reported  in  the  Senate  Janu 
ary  18,  1886,  by  Shelby  M.  Cullom  of  Illinois,  from  the  select  committee 
appointed  "to  investigate  and  report  on  the  subject  of  regulating  the  trans 
portation  of  freights  and  passengers  between  the  several  States  by  railroads 
and  water  routes."  Accompanying  the  bill  was  a  voluminous  report.  The 
bill  was  recommitted,  and  a  substitute  reported  February  16.  The  bill  was 
taken  up  April  14,  and  formed  one  of  the  principal  subjects  of  debate  until 
May  12,  when,  with  numerous  amendments,  the  bill  passed,  the  final  vote 
being  47  to  4,  25  not  voting.  A  substitute  was  reported  in  the  House 
May  22.  The  bill  was  taken  up  July  21,  and  on  the  3oth  the  amended 
substitute  passed  the  House  by  a  vote  of  192  to  41,  89  not  voting.  The 
session  closed  without  further  action  beyond  the  appointment  of  a  conference 
committee.  The  report  of  the  committee  was  submitted  December  15,  and 
was  accepted  by  the  Senate  January  14,  1887,  by  a  vote  of  43  to  15,  and  by 
the  House  January  21,  by  a  vote  of  219  to  41,  58  not  voting.  Extensive 
amendments  to  the  act  were  made  by  an  act  of  March  2,  1889.  The  scope 
of  the  commission,  and  its  authority  to  compel  testimony,  were  further  de 
fined  by  an  act  of  February  10,  1891.  An  act  of  February  n,  1893,  provided 
that  no  person  should  be  excused  from  testifying  before  the  commission,  or 
from  producing  papers,  etc.,  on  the  ground  that  such  evidence  would  tend  to 
incriminate  him;  but  such  witnesses  were  exempted  from  prosecution  or 
penalty  on  account  of  acts  concerning  which  they  were  required  to  give 
evidence. 


582  INTERSTATE   COMMERCE   ACT  [Feb.  4 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XXIV.,  379-387.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  49th  Cong.,  ist  and  2d  Sess., 
and  the  Cong.  Record.  The  text  of  the  House  bill  is  in  the  Record,  July  30. 
Cullom's  report  of  January  18,  1886,  is  Senate  Report  46,  49th  Cong.,  ist 
Sess.  The  annual  reports  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  and  the 
debates  in  Congress  on  the  amendatory  acts,  are  the  principal  authorities  for 
the  workings  of  the  statute.  For  decisions  under  the  act  to  1904  see  Gould 
and  Tucker,  Notes  on  the  Revised  Statutes,  II.,  618-621;  III.,  704-706. 

An  act  to  regulate  commerce. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  the  provisions  of  this  act  shall  apply 
to  any  common  carrier  or  carriers  engaged  in  the  transportation 
of  passengers  or  property  wholly  by  railroad,  or  partly  by  railroad 
and  partly  by  water  when  both  are  used,  under  a  common  control, 
management,  or  arrangement,  for  a  continuous  carriage  or  ship 
ment,  from  one  State  or  Territory  of  the  United  States,  or  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia,  to  any  other  State  or  Territory  of  the  United 
States,  or  the  District  of  Columbia,  or  from  any  place  in  the  United 
States  to  an  adjacent  foreign  country,  or  from  any  place  in  the 
United  States  through  a  foreign  country  to  any  other  place  in  the 
United  States,  and  also  to  the  transportation  in  like  manner  of 
property  shipped  from  any  place  in  the  United  States  to  a  foreign 
country  and  carried  from  such  place  to  a  port  of  transshipment, 
or  shipped  from  a  foreign  country  to  any  place  in  the  United 
States  and  carried  to  such  place  from  a  port  of  entry  either  in  the 
United  States  or  an  adjacent  foreign  country :  Provided,  however, 
That  the  provisions  of  this  act  shall  not  apply  to  the  transporta 
tion  of  passengers  or  property,  or  to  the  receiving,  delivering, 
storage,  or  handling  of  property,  wholly  within  one  State,  and 
not  shipped  to  or  from  a  foreign  country  from  or  to  any  State 
or  Territory  as  aforesaid. 

The  term  "railroad"  as  used  in  this  act  shall  include  all  bridges 
and  ferries  used  or  operated  in  connection  with  any  railroad,  and 
also  all  the  road  in  use  by  any  corporation  operating  a  railroad, 
whether  owned  or  operated  under  a  contract,  agreement,  or  lease ; 
and  the  term  "  transportation"  shall  include  all  instrumentalities 
of  shipment  or  carriage. 

All  charges  made  for  any  service  rendered  or  to  be  rendered  in 
the  transportation  of  passengers  or  property  as  aforesaid,  or  in 
connection  therewith,  or  for  the  receiving,  delivering,  storage,  or 


1887]  INTERSTATE   COMMERCE   ACT  583 

handling  of  such  property,  shall  be  reasonable  and  just;  and 
every  unjust  and  unreasonable  charge  for  such  service  is  prohibited 
and  declared  to  be  unlawful. 

SEC.  2.  That  if  any  common  carrier  subject  to  the  provisions  of 
this  act  shall,  directly  or  indirectly,  by  any  special  rate,  rebate, 
drawback,  or  other  device,  charge,  demand,  collect,  or  receive 
from  any  person  or  persons  a  greater  or  less  compensation  for 
any  service  rendered,  or  to  be  rendered,  in  the  transportation  of 
passengers  or  property,  subject  to  the  provisions  of  this  act,  than 
it  charges,  demands,  collects,  or  receives  from  any  other  person 
or  persons  for  doing  for  him  or  them  a  like  and  contemporaneous 
service  in  the  transportation  of  a  like  kind  of  traffic  under  sub 
stantially  similar  circumstances  and  conditions,  such  common 
carrier  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  unjust  discrimination,  which  is 
hereby  prohibited  and  declared  to  be  unlawful. 

SEC.  3.  That  it  shall  be  unlawful  for  any  common  carrier  sub 
ject  to  the  provisions  of  this  act  to  make  or  give  any  undue  or 
unreasonable  preference  or  advantage  to  any  particular  person, 
company,  firm,  corporation,  or  locality,  or  any  particular  descrip 
tion  of  traffic,  in  any  respect  whatsoever,  or  to  subject  any  particu 
lar  person,  company,  firm,  corporation,  or  locality,  or  any  particular 
description  of  traffic,  to  any  undue  or  unreasonable  prejudice  or 
disadvantage  in  any  respect  whatsoever. 

Every  common  carrier  subject  to  the  provisions  of  this  act 
shall,  according  to  their  respective  powers,  afford  all  reasonable, 
proper,  and  equal  facilities  for  the  interchange  of  traffic  between 
their  respective  lines,  and  for  the  receiving,  forwarding,  and  de 
livering  of  passengers  and  property  to  and  from  their  several 
lines  and  those  connecting  therewith,  and  shall  not  discriminate 
in  their  rates  and  charges  between  such  connecting  lines;  but 
this  shall  not  be  construed  as  requiring  any  such  common  carrier 
to  give  the  use  of  its  tracks  or  terminal  facilities  to  another  carrier 
engaged  in  like  business. 

SEC.  4.  That  it  shall  be  unlawful  for  any  common  carrier  sub 
ject  to  the  provisions  of  this  act  to  charge  or  receive  any  greater 
compensation  in  the  aggregate  for  the  transportation  of  passengers 
or  of  like  kind  of  property,  under  substantially  similar  circum 
stances  and  conditions,  for  a  shorter  than  for  a  longer  distance 
over  the  same  line,  in  the  same  direction,  the  shorter  being  in- 


584  INTERSTATE   COMMERCE   ACT  [Feb.  4 

eluded  within  the  longer  distance ;  but  this  shall  not  be  construed 
as  authorizing  any  common  carrier  within  the  terms  of  this  act  to 
charge  and  receive  as  great  compensation  for  a  shorter  as  for  a 
longer  distance :  Provided,  however,  That  upon  application  to  the 
Commission  appointed  under  the  provisions  of  this  act,  such  com 
mon  carrier  may,  in  special  cases,  after  investigation  by  the  Com 
mission,  be  authorized  to  charge  less  for  longer  than  for  shorter 
distances  for  the  transportation  of  passengers  or  property;  and 
the  Commission  may  from  time  to  time  prescribe  the  extent  to 
which  such  designated  common  carrier  may  be  relieved  from  the 
operation  of  this  section  of  this  act. 

SEC.  5.  That  it  shall  be  unlawful  for  any  common  carrier  sub 
ject  to  the  provisions  of  this  act  to  enter  into  any  contract,  agree 
ment,  or  combination  with  any  other  common  carrier  or  carriers 
for  the  pooling  of  freights  of  different  and  competing  railroads,  or 
to  divide  between  them  the  aggregate  or  net  proceeds  of  the 
earnings  of  such  railroads,  or  any  portion  thereof;  and  in  any 
case  of  an  agreement  for  the  pooling  of  freights  as  aforesaid,  each 
day  of  its  continuance  shall  be  deemed  a  separate  offense. 

SEC.  6.  That  every  common  carrier  subject  to  the  provisions 
of  this  act  shall  print  and  keep  for  public  inspection  schedules 
showing  the  rates  and  fares  and  charges  for  the  transportation 
of  passengers  and  property  which  any  such  common  carrier  has 
established  and  which  are  in  force  at  the  time  upon  its  railroad,  as 
denned  by  the  first  section  of  this  act.  The  schedules  printed  as 
aforesaid  by  any  such  common  carrier  shall  plainly  state  the  places 
upon  its  railroad  between  which  property  and  passengers  will  be 
carried,  and  shall  contain  the  classification  of  freight  in  force  upon 
such  railroad,  and  shall  also  state  separately  the  terminal  charges 
and  any  rules  or  regulations  which  in  any  wise  change,  affect,  or 
determine  any  part  or  the  aggregate  of  such  aforesaid  rates  and 
fares  and  charges.  Such  schedules  shall  be  plainly  printed  in 
large  type,  .  .  .  and  copies  for  the  use  of  the  public  shall  be  kept 
in  every  depot  or  station  upon  any  such  railroad,  in  such  places 
and  in  such  form  that  they  can  be  conveniently  inspected. 
******** 

No  advance  shall  be  made  in  the  rates,  fares,  and  charges 
which  have  been  established  and  published  as  aforesaid  by  any 
common  carrier  in  compliance  with  the  requirements  of  this  sec- 


1887]  INTERSTATE   COMMERCE   ACT  585 

tion,  except  after  ten  days'  public  notice,  which  shall  plainly  state 
the  changes  proposed  to  be  made  in  the  schedule  then  in  force, 
and  the  time  when  the  increased  rates,  fares,  or  charges  will  go 
into  effect.  .  .  .  Reductions  in  such  published  rates,  fares,  or 
charges  may  be  made  without  previous  public  notice;  but  when 
ever  any  such  reduction  is  made,  notice  of  the  same  shall  imme 
diately  be  publicly  posted.  .  .  . 

And  when  any  such  common  carrier  shall  have  established  and 
published  its  rates,  fares,  and  charges  in  compliance  with  the  pro 
visions  of  this  section,  it  shall  be  unlawful  for  such  common  carrier 
to  charge,  demand,  collect,  or  receive  from  any  person  or  persons 
a  greater  or  less  compensation  for  the  transportation  of  passengers 
or  property,  or  for  any  services  in  connection  therewith,  than  is 
specified  in  such  published  schedule  of  rates,  fares,  and  charges  as 
may  at  the  time  be  in  force. 

Every  common  carrier  subject  to  the  provisions  of  this  act  shall 
file  with  the  Commission  hereinafter  provided  for  copies  of  its 
schedules  of  rates,  fares,  and  charges  which  have  been  established 
and  published  in  compliance  with  the  requirements  of  this  section, 
and  shall  promptly  notify  said  Commission  of  all  changes  made  in 
the  same.  Every  such  common  carrier  shall  also  file  with  said 
Commission  copies  of  all  contracts,  agreements,  or  arrangements 
with  other  common  carriers  in  relation  to  any  traffic  affected  by 
the  provisions  of  this  act  to  which  it  may  be  a  party.  And  in 
cases  where  passengers  and  freight  pass  over  continuous  lines  or 
routes  operated  by  more  than  one  common  carrier,  and  the  several 
common  carriers  operating  such  lines  or  routes  establish  joint 
tariffs  of  rates  or  fares  or  charges  for  such  continuous  lines  or 
routes,  copies  of  such  joint  tariffs  shall  also,  in  like  manner,  be 
filed  with  said  Commission.  .  .  . 

******** 

SEC.  7.  That  it  shall  be  unlawful  for  any  common  carrier  subject 
to  the  provisions  of  this  act  to  enter  into  any  combination,  contract, 
or  agreement,  expressed  or  implied,  to  prevent,  by  change  of  time 
schedule,  carriage  in  different  cars,  or  by  other  means  or  devices, 
the  carriage  of  freights  from  being  continuous  from  the  place  of 
shipment  to  the  place  of  destination ;  and  no  break  of  bulk,  stop 
page,  or  interruption  made  by  such  common  carrier  shall  prevent 
the  carriage  of  freights  from  being  and  being  treated  as  one  con- 


586  INTERSTATE   COMMERCE   ACT  [Feb.  4 

tinuous  carriage  from  the  place  of  shipment  to  the  place  of  desti 
nation,  unless  such  break,  stoppage,  or  interruption  was  made  in 
good  faith  for  some  necessary  purpose,  and  without  any  intent  to 
avoid  or  unnecessarily  interrupt  such  continuous  carriage  or  to 
evade  any  of  the  provisions  of  this  act. 

SEC.  8.  That  in  case  any  common  carrier  subject  to  the  pro 
visions  of  this  act  shall  do,  cause  to  be  done,  or  permit  to  be  done 
any  act,  matter,  or  thing  in  this  act  prohibited  or  declared  to  be 
unlawful,  or  shall  omit  to  do  any  act,  matter,  or  thing  in  this  act 
required  to  be  done,  such  common  carrier  shall  be  liable  to  the 
person  or  persons  injured  thereby  for  the  full  amount  of  damages 
sustained  in  consequence  of  any  such  violation  of  the  provisions 
of  this  act,  together  with  a  reasonable  counsel  or  attorney's  fee,  to 
be  fixed  by  the  court  in  every  case  of  recovery,  which  attorney's 
fee  shall  be  taxed  and  collected  as  part  of  the  costs  in  the  case. 

SEC.  9.  That  any  person  or  persons  claiming  to  be  damaged  by 
any  common  carrier  subject  to  the  provisions  of  this  act  may 
either  make  complaint  to  the  Commission  as  hereinafter  provided 
for,  or  may  bring  suit  in  his  or  their  own  behalf  for  the  recovery 
of  the  damages  for  which  such  common  carrier  may  be  liable 
under  the  provisions  of  this  act,  in  any  district  or  circuit  court  of 
the  United  States  of  competent  jurisdiction  ...  In  any  such 
action  brought  for  the  recovery  of  damages  the  court  before  which 
the  same  shall  be  pending  may  compel  any  director,  officer,  re 
ceiver,  trustee,  or  agent  of  the  corporation  or  company  defendant  in 
such  suit  to  attend,  appear,  and  testify  in  such  case,  and  may  com 
pel  the  production  of  the  books  and  papers  of  such  corporation 
or  company  party  to  any  such  suit ;  the  claim  that  any  such  testi 
mony  or  evidence  may  tend  to  criminate  the  person  giving  such 
evidence  shall  not  excuse  such  witness  from  testifying,  but  such 
evidence  or  testimony  shall  not  be  used  against  such  person  on 
the  trial  of  any  criminal  proceeding. 

SEC.  10.  That  any  common  carrier  subject  to  the  provisions  of 
this  act,  or,  whenever  such  common  carrier  is  a  corporation,  any 
director  or  officer  thereof,  or  any  receiver,  trustee,  lessee,  agent, 
or  person  acting  for  or  employed  by  such  corporation,  who,  alone 
or  with  any  other  corporation,  company,  person,  or  party,  shall 
willfully  do  or  cause  to  be  done,  or  shall  willingly  suffer  or  permit 
to  be  done,  any  act,  matter,  or  thing  in  this  act  prohibited  or 


1887]  INTERSTATE   COMMERCE  ACT  587 

declared  to  be  unlawful,  or  who  shall  aid  or  abet  therein,  or  who 
shall  willfully  omit  or  fail  to  do  any  act,  matter,  or  thing  in  this  act 
required  to  be  done,  or  shall  cause  or  willingly  suffer  or  permit 
any  act,  matter,  or  thing  so  directed  or  required  by  this  act  to  be 
done  not  to  be  done  so,  or  shall  aid  or  abet  any  such  omission  or 
failure,  or  shall  be  guilty  of  any  infraction  of  this  act,  or  shall  aid 
or  abet  therein,  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and 
shall,  upon  conviction  thereof  in  any  district  court  of  the  United 
States  within  the  jurisdiction  of  which  such  offense  was  committed, 
be  subject  to  a  fine  of  not  to  exceed  five  thousand  dollars  for  each 
offense. 

SEC.  ii.  That  a  Commission  is  hereby  created  and  established 
to  be  known  as  the  Inter-State  Commerce  Commission,  which  shall 
be  composed  of  five  Commissioners,  who  shall  be  appointed  by 
the  President,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate. 
The  Commissioners  first  appointed  under  this  act  shall  continue 
in  office  for  the  term  of  two,  three,  four,  five,  and  six  years,  respec 
tively,  from  .  .  .  [January  i,  1887]  .  .  .  ,  the  term  of  each  to  be 
designated  by  the  President ;  but  their  successors  shall  be  appointed 
for  terms  of  six  years.  .  .  .  Any  Commissioner  may  be  removed 
by  the  President  for  inefficiency,  neglect  of  duty,  or  malfeasance  in 
office.  Not  more  than  three  of  the  Commissioners  shall  be  ap 
pointed  from  the  same  political  party.  No  person  in  the  employ 
of  or  holding  any  official  relation  to  any  common  carrier  subject 
to  the  provisions  of  this  act,  or  owning  stock  or  bonds  thereof, 
or  who  is  in  any  manner  pecuniarily  interested  therein,  shall  enter 
upon  the  duties  of  or  hold  such  office.  Said  Commissioners  shall 
not  engage  in  any  other  business,  vocation,  or  employment.  No 
vacancy  in  the  Commission  shall  impair  the  right  of  the  remain 
ing  Commissioners  to  exercise  all  the  powers  of  the  Commission. 

SEC.  12.  That  the  Commission  hereby  created  shall  have  author 
ity  to  inquire  into  the  management  of  the  business  of  all  common 
carriers  subject  to  the  provisions  of  this  act,  and  shall  keep  itself 
informed  as  to  the  manner  and  method  in  which  the  same  is  con 
ducted,  and  shall  have  the  right  to  obtain  from  such  common 
carriers  full  and  complete  information  necessary  to  enable  the 
Commission  to  perform  the  duties  and  carry  out  the  objects  for 
which  it  was  created;  and  for  the  purposes  of  this  act  the  Com 
mission  shall  have  power  to  require  the  attendance  and  testimony 


588  INTERSTATE   COMMERCE  ACT  [Feb.  4 

of  witnesses  and  the  production  of  all  books,  papers,  tariffs,  con 
tracts,  agreements,  and  documents  relating  to  any  matter  under 
investigation,  and  to  that  end  may  invoke  the  aid  of  any  court  of 
the  United  States  in  requiring  the  attendance  and  testimony  of 
witnesses  and  the  production  of  books,  papers,  and  documents 
under  the  provisions  of  this  section. 

******** 

SEC.  13.  That  any  person,  firm,  corporation,  or  association,  or 
any  mercantile,  agricultural,  or  manufacturing  society,  or  any  body 
politic  or  municipal  organization  complaining  of  anything  done 
or  omitted  to  be  done  by  any  common  carrier  subject  to  the  pro 
visions  of  this  act  in  contravention  of  the  provisions  thereof,  may 
apply  to  said  Commission  by  petition,  which  shall  briefly  state  the 
facts;  whereupon  a  statement  of  the  charges  thus  made  shall  be 
forwarded  by  the  Commission  to  such  common  carrier,  who  shall 
be  called  upon  to  satisfy  the  complaint  or  to  answer  the  same  in 
writing  within  a  reasonable  time,  to  be  specified  by  the  Commis 
sion.  If  such  common  carrier,  within  the  time  specified,  shall 
make  reparation  for  the  injury  alleged  to  have  been  done,  said  car 
rier  shall  be  relieved  of  liability  to  the  complainant  only  for  the 
particular  violation  of  law  thus  complained  of.  If  such  carrier 
shall  not  satisfy  the  complaint  within  the  time  specified,  or  there 
shall  appear  to  be  any  reasonable  ground  for  investigating  said 
complaint,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Commission  to  investigate 
the  matters  complained  of  in  such  manner  and  by  such  means  as 
it  shall  deem  proper. 

Said  Commission  shall  in  like  manner  investigate  any  complaint 
forwarded  by  the  railroad  commissioner  or  railroad  commission  of 
any  State  or  Territory,  at  the  request  of  such  commissioner  or 
commission,  and  may  institute  any  inquiry  on  its  own  motion  in 
the  same  manner  and  to  the  same  effect  as  though  complaint  had 

been   made.  .  .  . 

******** 

SEC.  15.  That  if  in  any  case  in  which  an  investigation  shall  be 
made  by  said  Commission  it  shall  be  made  to  appear  to  the  satis 
faction  of  the  Commission,  either  by  the  testimony  of  witnesses 
or  other  evidence,  that  anything  has  been  done  or  omitted  to  be 
done  in  violation  of  the  provisions  of  this  act,  or  of  any  law  cog 
nizable  by  said  Commission,  by  any  common  carrier,  or  that  any 


1887]  INTERSTATE   COMMERCE   ACT  589 

injury  or  damage  has  been  sustained  by  the  party  or  parties  com 
plaining,  or  by  other  parties  aggrieved  in  consequence  of  any  such 
violation,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Commission  to  forthwith  cause 
a  copy  of  its  report  in  respect  thereto  to  be  delivered  to  such 
common  carrier,  together  with  a  notice  to  said  common  carrier 
to  cease  and  desist  from  such  violation,  or  to  make  reparation  for 
the  injury  so  found  to  have  been  done,  or  both,  within  a  reason 
able  time,  to  be  specified  by  the  Commission;  and  if,  within  the 
time  specified,  it  shall  be  made  to  appear  to  the  Commission  that 
such  common  carrier  has  ceased  from  such  violation  of  law,  and 
has  made  reparation  for  the  injury  found  to  have  been  done,  in 
compliance  with  the  report  and  notice  of  the  Commission,  or  to 
the  satisfaction  of  the  party  complaining,  a  statement  to  that  effect 
shall  be  entered  of  record  by  the  Commission,  and  the  said  com 
mon  carrier  shall  thereupon  be  relieved  from  further  liability  or 
penalty  for  such  particular  violation  of  law. 

SEC.  1 6.  That  whenever  any  common  carrier,  as  defined  in  and 
subject  to  the  provisions  of  this  act,  shall  violate  or  refuse  or  neg 
lect  to  obey  any  lawful  order  or  requirement  of  the  Commission 
in  this  act  named,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Commission,  and 
lawful  for  any  company  or  person  interested  in  such  order  or  re 
quirement,  to  apply,  in  a  summary  way,  by  petition,  to  the  circuit 
court  of  the  United  States  sitting  in  equity  in  the  judicial  district 
in  which  the  common  carrier  complained  of  has  its  principal  office, 
or  in  which  the  violation  or  disobedience  of  such  order  or  require 
ment  shall  happen,  alleging  such  violation  or  disobedience,  as  the 
case  may  be;  and  the  said  court  shall  have  power  to  hear  and 
determine  the  matter,  on  such  short  notice  to  the  common  carrier 
complained  of  as  the  court  shall  deem  reasonable  .  .  .  When 
the  subject  in  dispute  shall  be  of  the  value  of  two  thousand  dollars 
or  more,  either  party  to  such  proceeding  before  said  court  may 
appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  .  .  . 

******** 

SEC.  20.  That  the  Commission  is  hereby  authorized  to  require 
annual  reports  from  all  common  carriers  subject  to  the  provisions 
of  this  act,  to  fix  the  time  and  prescribe  the  manner  in  which  such 
reports  shall  be  made,  and  to  require  from  such  carriers  specific 
answers  to  all  questions  upon  which  the  Commission  may  need 
information.  Such  annual  reports  shall  show  in  detail  the  amount 


590  INTERSTATE    COMMERCE   ACT  [Feb.  4 

of  capital  stock  issued,  the  amounts  paid  therefor,  and  the  manner 
of  payment  for  the  same;  the  dividends  paid,  the  surplus  fund, 
if  any,  and  the  number  of  stockholders;  the  funded  and  floating 
debts  and  the  interest  paid  thereon;  the  cost  and  value  of  the 
carrier's  property,  franchises,  and  equipment;  the  number  of  em 
ployees  and  the  salaries  paid  each  class;  the  amounts  expended 
for  improvements  each  year,  how  expended,  and  the  character  of 
such  improvements;  the  earnings  and  receipts  from  each  branch 
of  business  and  from  all  sources;  the  operating  and  other  ex 
penses;  the  balances  of  profit  and  loss;  and  a  complete  exhibit 
of  the  financial  operations  of  the  carrier  each  year,  including  an 
annual  balance-sheet.  Such  reports  shall  also  contain  such  infor 
mation  in  relation  to  rates  or  regulations  concerning  fares  or 
freights,  or  agreements,  arrangements,  or  contracts  with  other 
common  carriers,  as  the  Commission  may  require;  and  the  said 
Commission  may,  within  its  discretion,  for  the  purpose  of  enabling 
it  the  better  to  carry  out  the  purposes  of  this  act,  prescribe  (if  in 
the  opinion  of  the  Commission  it  is  practicable  to  prescribe  such 
uniformity  and  methods  of  keeping  accounts)  a  period  of  time 
within  which  all  common  carriers  subject  to  the  provisions  of  this 
act  shall  have,  as  near  as  may  be,  a  uniform  system  of  accounts, 
and  the  manner  in  which  such  accounts  shall  be  kept. 

SEC.  22.  That  nothing  in  this  act  shall  apply  to  the  carriage, 
storage,  or  handling  of  property  free  or  at  reduced  rates  for  the 
United  States,  State,  or  municipal  governments,  or  for  charitable 
purposes,  or  to  or  from  fairs  and  expositions  for  exhibition  thereat, 
or  the  issuance  of  mileage,  excursion,  or  commutation  passenger 
tickets  :  nothing  in  this  act  shall  be  construed  to  prohibit  any 
common  carrier  from  giving  reduced  rates  to  ministers  of  reli 
gion  ;  nothing  in  this  act  shall  be  construed  to  prevent  railroads 
from  giving  free  carriage  to  their  own  officers  and  employees,  or 
to  prevent  the  principal  officers  of  any  railroad  company  or  com 
panies  from  exchanging  passes  or  tickets  with  other  railroad  com 
panies  for  their  officers  and  employees;  and  nothing  in  this  act 
contained  shall  in  any  way  abridge  or  alter  the  remedies  now 
existing  at  common  law  or  by  statute,  but  the  provisions  of  this 
act  are  in  addition  to  such  remedies:  Provided,  That  no  pending 

litigation  shall  in  any  way  be  affected  by  this  act. 

###*###* 


1887]  ANTI-TRUST   ACT  591 


No.  181.    Anti-Trust  Act 

July  2,  1890 

SEVERAL  bills  for  the  regulation  of  trusts  came  before  Congress  during  the 
session  of  1888-1889,  but  none  got  beyond  the  stage  of  discussion.  A  bill 
"to  declare  unlawful  trusts  and  combinations  in  restraint  of  trade  and  pro 
duction"  was  introduced  in  the  Senate  December  4,  1889,  by  Sherman,  and 
referred  to  the  Committee  on  Finance,  which  reported  it  with  amendments 
January  14,  1890.  The  bill  was  taken  up  February  27  and  debated  until 
March  27,  when  it  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  with  in 
structions  to  report  within  twenty  days.  A  substitute  was  reported  April  2, 
and  on  the  8th  passed  the  Senate  with  amendments.  The  House  amended 
the  bill  so  as  to  make  unlawful  "every  contract  or  agreement  entered  into 
for  the  purpose  of  preventing  competition  in  the  sale  or  purchase  of  a  com 
modity  transported  from  one  State  to  be  sold  in  another."  The  Senate  added 
further  amendments,  to  which  the  House  disagreed,  and  the  bill  went  to  a 
conference  committee,  which  recommended  that  each  house  recede  from  its 
amendments.  The  acceptance  of  the  report  resulted  in  the  passage  of  the 
Senate  bill. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XXVI.,  209,  210.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  5ist  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  and 
the  Cong.  Record.  The  text  of  Sherman's  original  bill  is  in  the  Record,  Feb 
ruary  27.  The  report  of  the  House  Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  April  25, 
is  House  Report  1707 ;  for  an  earlier  report  on  the  investigation  of  trusts  see 
House  Report  3112,  5oth  Cong.,  ist  Sess.  For  decisions  under  the  act  to 
1904  see  Gould  and  Tucker,  Notes  on  the  Revised  Statutes,  II.,  622,  623; 
III.,  710-712. 

An  act  to  protect  trade  and  commerce  against  unlawful  restraints  and 
monopolies. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  , 

SEC.  i.  Every  contract,  combination  in  the  form  of  trust  or 
otherwise,  or  conspiracy,  in  restraint  of  trade  or  commerce 
among  the  several  States,  or  with  foreign  nations,  is  hereby  de 
clared  to  be  illegal.  Every  person  who  shall  make  any  such 
contract  or  engage  in  any  such  combination  or  conspiracy,  shall 
be  deemed  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and,  on  conviction  thereof, 
shall  be  punished  by  fine  not  exceeding  five  thousand  dollars, 
or  by  imprisonment  not  exceeding  one  year,  or  by  both  said 
punishments,  in  the  discretion  of  the  court. 

SEC.  2.  Every  person  who  shall  monopolize,  or  attempt  to 
monopolize,  or  combine  or  conspire  with  any  other  person  or 


592  ANTI-TRUST   ACT  [July  2 

persons,  to  monopolize  any  part  of  the  trade  or  commerce  among 
the  several  States,  or  with  foreign  nations,  shall  be  deemed  guilty 
of  a  misdemeanor,  and,  on  conviction  thereof,  shall  be  punished 
by  fine  not  exceeding  five  thousand  dollars,  or  by  imprisonment 
not  exceeding  one  year,  or  by  both  said  punishments,  in  the 
discretion  of  the  court. 

SEC.  3.  Every  contract,  combination  in  form  of  trust  or  other 
wise,  or  conspiracy,  in  restraint  of  trade  or  commerce  in  any 
Territory  of  the  United  States  or  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  or 
in  restraint  of  trade  or  commerce  between  any  such  Territory 
and  another,  or  between  any  such  Territory  or  Territories  and 
any  State  or  States  or  the  District  of  Columbia,  or  with  foreign 
nations,  or  between  the  District  of  Columbia  and  any  State 
or  States  or  foreign  nations,  is  hereby  declared  illegal.  Every 
person  who  shall  make  any  such  contract  or  engage  in  any 
such  combination  or  conspiracy,  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a 
misdemeanor,  and,  on  conviction  thereof,  shall  be  punished  by 
fine  not  exceeding  five  thousand  dollars,  or  by  imprisonment  not 
exceeding  one  year,  or  by  both  said  punishments,  in  the  discre 
tion  of  the  court. 

SEC.  4.  The  several  circuit  courts  of  the  United  States  are 
hereby  invested  with  jurisdiction  to  prevent  and  restrain  violations 
of  this  act;  and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  several  district  attor 
neys  of  the  United  States,  in  their  respective  districts,  under  the 
direction  of  the  Attorney-General,  to  institute  proceedings  in 

equity  to  prevent  and  restrain  such  violations.  .  .  . 

******** 

SEC.  6.  Any  property  owned  under  any  contract  or  by  any 
combination,  or  pursuant  to  any  conspiracy  (and  being  the  sub 
ject  thereof)  mentioned  in  section  one  of  this  act,  and  being  in 
the  course  of  transportation  from  one  State  to  another,  or  to  a 
foreign  country,  shall  be  forfeited  to  the  United  States,  and  may 
be  seized  and  condemned  by  like  proceedings  as  those  provided 
by  law  for  the  forfeiture,  seizure,  and  condemnation  of  property 
imported  into  the  United  States  contrary  to  law. 

SEC.  7.  Any  person  who  shall  be  injured  in  his  business  or 
property  by  any  other  person  or  corporation  by  reason  of  any 
thing  forbidden  or  declared  to  be  unlawful  by  this  act,  may  sue 
therefor  in  any  circuit  court  of  the  United  States  in  the  district 


r89o]  SILVER   PURCHASE   ACT  593 

in  which  the  defendant  resides  or  is  found,  without  respect  to  the 
amount  in  controversy,  and  shall  recover  three  fold  the  damages 
by  him  sustained,  and  the  costs  of  suit,  including  a  reasonable 
attorney's  fee. 

SEC.  8.  That  the  word  "person,"  or  " persons,"  wherever  used 
in  this  act  shall  be  deemed  to  include  corporations  and  associa 
tions  existing  under  or  authorized  by  the  laws  of  either  the  United 
States,  the  laws  of  any  of  the  Territories,  the  laws  of  any  State, 
or  the  laws  of  any  foreign  country. 


No.   182.     Silver  Purchase  Act 

July  14,   1890 

IN  his  annual  message  of  December  3,  1889,  President  Harrison  called 
attention  to  the  decline  in  the  market  price  of  silver,  and  expressed  fear  of  the 
effect  of  a  further  decline  on  the  value  of  gold  and  silver  dollars  in  com 
mercial  transactions.  The  accompanying  report  of-  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  proposed  the  issue  of  treasury  notes  "against  deposits  of  silver 
bullion  at  the  market  price  of  silver  when  deposited,  payable  on  demand  in 
such  quantities  of  silver  bullion  as  will  equal  in  value,  at  the  date  of  presenta 
tion,  the  number  of  dollars  expressed  on  the  face  of  the  notes  at  the  market 
price  of  silver,  or  in  gold,  at  the  option  of  the  Government,  or  in  silver  dollars 
at  the  option  of  the  holder";  together  with  "the  repeal  of  the  compulsory 
feature  of  the  present  coinage  act."  A  bill  authorizing  the  issue  of  treasury 
notes  on  deposits  of  silver  bullion  was  introduced  in  the  House  January  20, 
1890,  by  E.  H.  Conger  of  Iowa,  and  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Coinage, 
Weights,  and  Measures.  The  bill  was  reported  April  9.  Another  bill  direct 
ing  the  purchase  of  silver  bullion  and  the  issue  of  treasury  notes  thereon  was 
introduced  by  Conger  April  24,  and  referred;  June  5  an  amended  form  of 
this  bill  was  substituted  for  the  bill  already  before  the  House,  and  the  bill 
passed,  the  vote  being  135  to  119,  73  not  voting.  In  the  meantime  a  bill 
prepared  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in  accordance  with  the  recom 
mendations  of  his  annual  report,  had  been  introduced  in  the  Senate  January 
20,  by  Morrill  of  Vermont,  by  request,  had  been  taken  up  March  31,  and  was 
under  consideration  when  the  House  bill  was  received.  June  13  the  House 
bill  was  substituted  for  the  bill  before  the  Senate.  On  the  iyth  a  free  coin 
age  amendment,  offered  by  Plumb  of  Kansas,  was  agreed  to  by  a  vote  of  43  to 
24,  and  the  amended  bill  passed,  the  final  vote  being  42  to  25,  17  not  voting. 
The  House  disagreed  to  the  Senate  amendments,  and  a  conference  commit 
tee  settled  the  final  form  of  the  bill.  The  report  of  the  committee  was  agreed 
to  by  the  Senate  July  10,  by  a  vote  of  39  to  26,  and  by  the  House  July  12,  by 
a  vote  of  122  to  90,  1 16  not  voting.  So  much  of  the  act  as  provided  for  the 
20 


594  SILVER   PURCHASE  ACT  [July  14 

purchase  of  silver  bullion  and  the  issue  of  notes  thereon  was  repealed  by  the 
act  of  November  i,  1893  [No.  183]. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XXVI.,  289,  290.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  5ist  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Record.  The  texts  of  the  bills  of  April  24  and  June  5  are  in  the  Rec 
ord,  June  7,  House  proceedings.  On  Conger's  bill  of  January  29  see  House 
Report  1086.  On  the  amount  of  coinage  under  the  act  see  Senate  Doc.  163, 
55th  Cong.,  2d  Sess. 


An  act  directing  the  purchase  of  silver  bullion  and  the  issue  of  Treasury  notes 
thereon,  and  for  other  purposes. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is  hereby 
directed  to  purchase,  from  time  to  time,  silver  bullion  to  the 
aggregate  amount  of  four  million  five  hundred  thousand  ounces, 
or  so  much  thereof  as  may  be  offered  in  each  month,  at  the  market 
price  thereof,  not  exceeding  one  dollar  for  three  hundred  and 
seventy-one  and  twenty-five  hundredths  grains  of  pure  silver, 
and  to  issue  in  payment  for  such  purchases  of  silver  bullion 
Treasury  notes  of  the  United  States  to  be  prepared  by  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  in  such  form  and  of  such  denominations,  not  less 
than  one  dollar  nor  more  than  one  thousand  dollars,  as  he  may 
prescribe.  .  .  . 

SEC.  2.  That  the  Treasury  notes  issued  in  accordance  with  the 
provisions  of  this  act  shall  be  redeemable  on  demand,  in  coin,  at 
the  Treasury  of  the  United  States,  or  at  the  office  of  any  assistant 
treasurer  of  the  United  States,  and  when  so  redeemed  may  be 
reissued;  but  no  greater  or  less  amount  of  such  notes  shall  be 
outstanding  at  any  time  than  the  cost  of  the  silver  bullion  and 
the  standard  silver  dollars  coined  therefrom,  then  held  in  the 
Treasury  purchased  by  such  notes ;  and  such  Treasury  notes  shall 
be  a  legal  tender  in  payment  of  all  debts,  public  and  private, 
except  where  otherwise  expressly  stipulated  in  the  contract,  and 
shall  be  receivable  for  customs,  taxes,  and  all  public  dues,  and 
when  so  received  may  be  reissued;  and  such  notes,  when  held 
by  any  national  banking  association,  may  be  counted  as  a  part 
of  its  lawful  reserve.  That  upon  demand  of  the  holder  of  any 
of  the  Treasury  notes  herein  provided  for  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  shall,  under  such  regulations  as  he  may  prescribe,  redeem 
such  notes  in  gold  or  silver  coin,  at  his  discretion,  it  being  the 
established  policy  of  the  United  States  to  maintain  the  two  metals 


1890]  REPEAL   OF  SILVER  PURCHASE  ACT  595 

on  a  parity  with  each  other  upon  the  present  legal  ratio,  or  such 
ratio  as  may  be  provided  by  law. 

SEC.  3.  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  shall  each  month 
coin  two  million  ounces  of  the  silver  bullion  purchased  under  the 
provisions  of  this  act  into  standard  silver  dollars  until  .  .  .  [July 
i,  1891]  .  .  .  ,  and  after  that  time  he  shall  coin  of  the  silver  bullion 
purchased  under  the  provisions  of  this  act  as  much  as  may  be 
necessary  to  provide  for  the  redemption  of  the  Treasury  notes 
herein  provided  for,  and  any  gain  or  seigniorage  arising  from 
such  coinage  shall  be  accounted  for  and  paid  into  the  Treasury. 
******** 

SEC.  5.  That  so  much  of  the  act  of  ...  [February  28,  1878] 
.  .  .  ,  entitled  "An  act  to  authorize  the  coinage  of  the  standard 
silver  dollar  and  to  restore  its  legal-tender  character,"  as  requires 
the  monthly  purchase  and  coinage  of  the  same  into  silver  dollars 
of  not  less  than  two  million  dollars,  nor  more  than  four  million 

dollars'  worth  of  silver  bullion,  is  hereby  repealed. 

******** 


No.  183.     Repeal  of  the  Silver  Purchase  Act 

of  1890 

November  i,  1893 

A  BILL  to  repeal  the  silver  purchase  act  of  July  14,  1890  [No.  182],  was 
introduced  in  the  House  August  n,  1893,  by  William  L.  Wilson  of  West 
Virginia.  A  free  coinage  substitute  was  offered  by  Bland  of  Missouri.  On 
motion  of  Bland  it  was  agreed  that  the  debate  should  continue  for  fourteen 
days,  eleven  days  to  be  allotted  to  general  debate  under  the  rules  of  the  last 
House,  and  the  last  three  days  to  the  consideration  of  the  bill  and  amend 
ments  under  the  five-minute  rule;  that  upon  the  close  of  the  debate,  votes 
should  be  taken  in  the  following  order:  on  free  coinage  of  silver  at  the  pres 
ent  ratio,  then  at  the  ratio  of  17  to  i,  then  at  the  ratio  of  18  to  i,  then  at  the 
ratio  of  19  to  i,  and  finally  at  the  ratio  of  20  to  i;  and  that  in  the  event  of 
these  several  votes  resulting  in  the  negative,  the  House  should  vote  on  an 
amendment  to  revive  the  so-called  Bland-Allison  act  of  February  28,  1878 
[No.  178].  The  bill  was  then  taken  up,  and  formed  the  principal  subject  of 
debate  until  August  28.  The  disastrous  panic,  due  in  part  to  the  anxiety 
caused  by  the  shrinkage  of  the  gold  reserve  notwithstanding  the  rapid  increase 
in  the  volume  of  silver  certificates,  made  the  debate  one  of  extraordinary  public 


596  REPEAL   OF   SILVER  PURCHASE  ACT  [Nov.', 

interest,  while  the  advocates  of  silver  carried  on  a  vigorous  agitation  for  free 
coinage  in  the  event  of  a  repeal  of  the  compulsory  purchase  clause  of  the  act 
of  1890.  The  votes  taken  August  28  resulted  as  follows:  on  the  free  coin 
age  substitute,  125  to  226;  on  free  coinage  at  the  ratio  of  17  to  i,  101  to  241 ; 
at  18  to  i,  103  to  240;  at  19  to  i,  104  to  238;  at  20  to  i,  122  to  222;  on 
reviving  the  Bland-Allison  act,  136  to  213.  The  bill  was  then  read  a  third 
time  and  passed,  the  vote  being  239  to  109,  5  not  voting.  The  Senate  had 
under  consideration  a  bill  to  the  same  effect  as  the  House  bill,  so  far  as  repeal 
ing  the  purchase  clause  of  the  act  of  1890  was  concerned ;  August  29  this  was 
reported  by  the  Committee  on  Finance  as  a  substitute  for  the  House  bill. 
The  bill  was  not  considered  until  October  30,  when  the  substitute  was  agreed 
to  and  the  bill  passed,  the  final  vote  being  43  to  32.  November  i,  by  a  vote 
of  194  to  94,  65  not  voting,  the  House  concurred  in  the  Senate  amendment. 
A  bill  to  "coin  the  seigniorage"  was  vetoed  by  President  Cleveland  May  27, 
1894. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XXVIII.,  4,  5.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  53d  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Record.  Practically  every  aspect  of  the  silver  question  was  touched  on 
in  the  debate. 

An  Act  to  repeal  a  part  of  ...  [the  Silver  Purchase  Act  of  July  14,  1890]. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  so  much  of  the  .  .  .  [Silver  Purchase 
A^t  of  July  14, 1890]  .  .  .  ,  as  directs  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
to  purchase  from  time  to  time  silver  bullion  to  the  aggregate 
amount  of  four  million  five  hundred  thousand  ounces,  or  so  much 
thereof  as  may  be  offered  in  each  month  at  the  market  price 
thereof,  not  exceeding  one  dollar  for  three  hundred  and  seventy- 
one  and  twenty-five  one-hundredths  grains  of  pure  silver,  and  to 
issue  in  payment  for  such  purchases  Treasury  notes  of  the  United 
States,  be,  and  the  same  is  hereby,  repealed.  And  it  is  hereby 
declared  to  be  the  policy  of  the  United  States  to  continue  the 
use  of  both  gold  and  silver  as  standard  money,  and  to  coin  both 
gold  and  silver  into  money  of  equal  intrinsic  and  exchangeable 
value,  such  equality  to  be  secured  through  international  agree 
ment,  or  by  such  safeguards  of  legislation  as  will  insure  the  main 
tenance  of  the  parity  in  value  of  the  coins  of  the  two  metals,  and 
the  equal  power  of  every  dollar  at  all  times  in  the  markets  and  in 
the  payment  of  debts.  And  it  is  hereby  further  declared  that  the 
efforts  of  the  Government  should  be  steadily  directed  to  the  estab 
lishment  of  such  a  safe  system  of  bimetallism  as  will  maintain  at 
all  times  the  equal  power  of  every  dollar  coined  or  issued  by  the 
United  States,  in  the  markets  and  in  the  payment  of  debts. 


1893]  INDEPENDENCE   OF  CUBA  597 

No.  184.     Recognition  of  the  Independence 
of  Cuba 

April  20,  1898 

IN  his  annual  message  of  December  6,  1897,  President  McKinley  reviewed 
the  course  of  the  insurrection  which  had  been  in  progress  in  Cuba  since 
February,  1895,  but  opposed  the  recognition  of  Cuban  belligerency.  A  reso 
lution  recognizing  the  independence  of  Cuba,  being  the  same  as  the  resolu 
tion  finally  adopted,  but  without  the  fourth  section,  was  reported  in  the 
Senate  April  13,  1898,  by  Cushman  K.  Davis  of  Minnesota,  from  the  Com 
mittee  on  Foreign  Relations.  An  amendment  offered  on  the  i6th  by  David 
Turpie  of  Indiana,  recognizing  the  Republic  of  Cuba  "as  the  true  and  law 
ful  government  of  that  island,"  was  agreed  to  by  a  vote  of  51  to  37 ;  and,  with 
the  further  addition  of  the  fourth  section,  offered  as  an  amendment  by  Davis, 
the  resolution  passed.  A  resolution  directing  the  President  to  intervene  to 
put  an  end  to  the  war  in  Cuba  "to  the  end  and  with  the  purpose  of  securing 
permanent  peace  and  order  there  and  establishing  by  the  free  action  of  the 
people  thereof  a  stable  and  independent  government  of  their  own,"  was  re 
ported  in  the  House  April  13,  by  Robert  Adams  of  Pennsylvania,  from  the 
Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs,  as  a  substitute  for  numerous  bills  and  resolu 
tions  previously  submitted.  A  substitute  recognizing  the  independence  of  the 
Republic  of  Cuba,  offered  by  Albert  S.  Berry  of  Kentucky  on  behalf  of  the 
minority  of  the  committee,  was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  150  to  190,  and  the  reso 
lution  was  agreed  to,  the  final  vote  being  324  to  19.  In  the  Senate,  April  16, 
the  House  resolution  was  substituted  for  the  resolution  already  before  the 
Senate,  and  then  amended  by  striking  out  the  words  of  the  House  resolution 
and  inserting  the  resolution  of  the  Senate.  On  the  i8th  the  House  concurred 
with  an  amendment,  offered  by  Nelson  Dingley  of  Maine,  striking  out  the 
clause  recognizing  the  Republic  of  Cuba,  the  vote  being  178  to  156.  The 
Senate  refusing  to  concur  in  the  House  amendment,  the  resoluticn  went  to  a 
conference  committee,  which  reported  inability  to  agree,  and  a  second  com 
mittee  settled  the  final  form  of  the  resolution.  The  report  of  the  second 
committee  was  agreed  to  in  the  House  by  a  vote  of  311  to  6,  and  in  the 
Senate  by  a  vote  of  42  to  35. 

REFERENCES.  -*-  Text  in  Tj  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XXX.,  738,  739.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  55th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Record.  See  also  Senate  Report  885  ;  Senate  Doc.  166  and  Senate  Re 
port  1160,  54th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.;  and  the  various  messages  of  the  President. 
A  large  amount  of  documentary  matter  was  printed  in  the  Record  in  the 
course  of  the  debate. 

Joint  Resolution  foi  the  Lecognition  of  the  independence  of  the  people  of 
Cuba,  demanding  thai  the  Government  of  Spain  relinquish  its  authority 
and  government  in  the  Island  of  Cuba,  and  to  withdraw  its  land  and  naval 
forces  from  Cuba  and  Cuban  waters  and  directing  the  President  of  the 


598  DECLARATION   OF  WAR  [April  25 

United  States  to  use  the  land  and  naval  forces  of  the  United  States  to 
carry  these  resolutions  into  effect. 

Whereas  the  abhorrent  conditions  which  have  existed  for  more 
than  three  years  in  the  Island  of  Cuba,  so  near  our  own  borders, 
have  shocked  the  moral  sense  of  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
have  been  a  disgrace  to  Christian  civilization,  culminating,  as  they 
have,  in  the  destruction  of  a  United  States  battle  ship,  with  two 
hundred  and  sixty-six  of  its  officers  and  crew,  while  on  a  friendly 
visit  in  the  harbor  of  Havana,  and  can  not  longer  be  endured,  as 
has  been  set  forth  by  the  President  of  the  United  States  in  his 
message  to  Congress  of  April  eleventh,  eighteen  hundred  and 
ninety-eight,  upon  which  the  action  of  Congress  was  invited: 
Therefore, 

Resolved  .  .  .  ,  First.  That  the  people  of  the  Island  of  Cuba 
are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be,  free  and  independent. 

Second.  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the  United  States  to  demand, 
and  the  Government  of  the  United  States  does  hereby  demand, 
that  the  Government  of  Spain  at  once  relinquish  its  authority  and 
government  in  the  Island  of  Cuba  and  withdraw  its  land  and  naval 
forces  from  Cuba  and  Cuban  waters. 

Third.  That  the  President  of  the  United  States  be,  and  he 
hereby  is,  directed  and  empowered  to  use  the  entire  land  and 
naval  forces  of  the  United  States,  and  to  call  into  the  actual  ser 
vice  of  the  United  States  the  militia  of  the  several  States,  to  such 
extent  as  may  be  necessary  to  carry  these  resolutions  into  effect. 

Fourth.  That  the  United  States  hereby  disclaims  any  disposi 
tion  or  intention  to  exercise  sovereignty,  jurisdiction,  or  control 
over  said  Island  except  for  the  pacification  thereof,  and  asserts  its 
determination,  when  that  is  accomplished,  to  leave  the  govern 
ment  and  control  of  the  Island  to  its  people. 


No.   185.     Declaration  of  War 

April  25,  1898 

THE  destruction  of  the  battleship  Maine  in  the  harbor  of  Havana,  on  the 
night  of  February  15,  1898,  was  followed,  March  9,  by  the  appropriation 
of  $50,000,000  for  the  national  defence.  An  account  of  the  Maine  affair, 
together  with  the  findings  of  the  court  of  inquiry,  was  laid  before  Congress 


1898]  DECLARATION   OF   WAR  599 

by  President  McKinley  in  his  message  of  March  28.  April  u  the  President 
asked  for  authority  to  intervene  and  end  the  war  in  Cuba.  On  the  22d  a 
blockade  of  the  north  coast  of  Cuba,  and  of  Cienfuegos  on  the  south  coast, 
was  proclaimed,  and  on  the  next  day  125,000  volunteers  were  called  for  under 
authority  of  the  joint  resolution  of  April  20  [No.  184].  On  the  25th  the 
President  announced  the  withdrawal  of  the  Spanish  minister,  and  recom 
mended  a  declaration  of  war.  A  joint  resolution  was  at  once  introduced 
in  the  House  by  Adams  of  Pennsylvania,  from  the  Committee  on  Foreign 
Affairs,  and  passed  both  houses  the  same  day  without  divisions.  A  proclama 
tion  regarding  neutrals  was  issued  April  26.  May  25  a  call  for  75,000  addi 
tional  volunteers  was  issued.  By  a  proclamation  of  June  27,  the  blockade 
was  extended  to  the  whole  of  the  south  coast  of  Cuba,  and  to  San  Juan,  Porto 
Rico.  Acts  of  July  8,  1898,  and  March  3,  1899,  provided  for  the  reimburse 
ment  to  States  of  the  expenses  incurred  by  them  on  account  of  the  war. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XXX.,  364.  For  the  pro 
ceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  55th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Record.  There  was  no  debate  in  the  House,  and  the  discussion  in  the 
Senate  was  with  closed  doors.  For  the  correspondence  with  Spain  see  the 
Foreign  Relations,  1897  and  1898.  The  report  of  the  Maine  court  of  inquiry 
is  Senate  Doc.  207,  55th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.;  the  report  on  the  investigation  of 
the  War  Department,  Senate  Doc.  221,  56th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.;  the  "beef"  in 
quiry,  Senate  Doc.  270,  ibid.  See  also  Notes  on  the  Spanish- American  War* 
Senate  Doc.  288,  ibid. 

An  Act  declaring  that  war  exists  between  the  United  States  of  America  and 
the  Kingdom  of  Spain. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  First.  That  war  be,  and  the  same  is  hereby, 
declared  to  exist,  and  that  war  has  existed  since  .  .  .  [April  21, 
1898]  .  .  .  ,  including  said  day,  between  the  United  States  of 
America  and  the  Kingdom  of  Spain. 

Second.  That  the  President  of  the  United  States  be,  and  he 
hereby  is,  directed  and  empowered  to  use  the  entire  land  and 
naval  forces  of  the  United  States,  and  to  call  into  the  actual  ser 
vice  of  the  United  States  the  militia  of  the  several  States,  to  such 
extent  as  may  be  necessary  to  carry  this  Act  into  effect. 


600  ANNEXATION    OF   THE   HAWAIIAN   ISLANDS      [July  7 

No.    1 86.     Annexation  of    the  Hawaiian 
Islands 

July  7,  1898 

IN  January,  1893,  Queen  Liliuokalani  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  was  forced 
to  abdicate,  and  a  provisional  government  was  proclaimed,  followed  in  July, 
1894,  by  the  establishment  of  a  republic.  The  constitution  of  the  republic 
expressly  authorized  a  treaty  of  "political  or  commercial  union"  with  the 
United  States.  A  treaty  of  annexation,  concluded  in  1893,  was  withdrawn  by 
President  Cleveland.  A  second  treaty  was  signed  June  16,  1897,  and  ratified 
by  the  Senate  of  Hawaii.  On  the  outbreak  of  the  war  with  Spain  the  United 
States  assumed  to  use  the  islands  as  a  naval  base.  May  4,  1898,  while  the 
treaty  of  annexation  was  pending,  Francis  G.  Newlands  of  Nevada  introduced 
a  joint  resolution  for  annexation,  the  resolution  being  one  of  several  similar 
propositions  which  had  been  submitted  to  Congress.  The  terms  proposed  by 
the  resolution  were  substantially  the  same  as  those  embodied  in  the  pending 
treaty.  The  resolution  was  reported  without  amendment  May  17,  but  was 
not  taken  up  until  June  n.  On  the  isth  a  substitute  declaring  against  the 
acquisition  of  the  islands  by  any  foreign  power,  and  guaranteeing  their  inde 
pendence,  was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  96  to  204,  and  the  resolution  passed,  the 
final  vote  being  209  to  91.  The  resolution  was  reported  in  the  Senate  June 
17  without  amendment,  taken  up  on  the  20th,  and  debated  until  July  6, 
when,  by  a  vote  of  42  to  21,  it  was  agreed  to.  The  formal  transfer  of  the 
islands  took  place  August  12.  An  act  of  April  30,  1900,  provided  a  territo 
rial  form  of  government. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XXX.,  750,  751.  For  the 
proceedings  see  the  House  and  Senate  Journals,  55th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  and  the 
Cong.  Record.  See  also  Senate  Report  681  and  House  Report  1355.  There- 
port  of  the  Hawaiian  commission  is  Senate  Doc.  16,  55th  Cong.,  3d  Sess.  On 
the  earlier  relations  with  Hawaii  see  Senate  Report  227  and  House  Exec.  Doc. 
47,  53d  Cong.,  2d  Sess. 

Joint  Resolution  To  provide  for  annexing  the  Hawaiian  Islands  to  the  United 

States. 

WHEREAS  the  Government  of  the  Republic  of  Hawaii  having,  in 
due  form,  signified  its  consent,  in  the  manner  provided  by  its 
constitution,  to  cede  absolutely  and  without  reserve  to  the  United 
States  of  America  all  rights  of  sovereignty  of  whatsoever  kind  in 
and  over  the  Hawaiian  Islands  and  their  dependencies,  and  also 
to  cede  and  transfer  to  the  United  States  the  absolute  fee  and  own 
ership  of  all  public,  Government,  or  Crown  lands,  public  buildings 
or  edifices,  ports,  harbors,  military  equipment,  and  all  other  public 


1898]         ANNEXATION   OF  THE   HAWAIIAN   ISLANDS  601 

property  of  every  kind  and  description  belonging  to  the  Govern- 
ment  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  together  with  every  right  and  ap 
purtenance  thereunto  appertaining:  Therefore, 

Resolved  .  .  .  ,  That  said  cession  is  accepted,  ratified,  and  con 
firmed,  and  that  the  said  Hawaiian  Islands  and  their  dependencies 
be,  and  they  are  hereby,  annexed  as  a  part  of  the  territory  of  the 
United  States  and  are  subject  to  the  sovereign  dominion  thereof, 
and  that  all  and  singular  the  property  and  rights  hereinbefore 
mentioned  are  vested  in  the  United  States  of  America. 

The  existing  laws  of  the  United  States  relative  to  public  lands 
shall  not  apply  to  such  lands  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands;  but  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  shall  enact  special  laws  for  their 
management  and  disposition :  Provided,  That  all  revenue  from  or 
proceeds  of  the  same,  except  as  regards  such  part  thereof  as 
may  be  used  or  occupied  for  the  civil,  military,  or  naval  purposes  of 
the  United  States,  or  may  be  assigned  for  the  use  of  the  local  gov 
ernment,  shall  be  used  solely  for  the  benefit  of  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  educational  and  other  public  purposes. 

Until  Congress  shall  provide  for  the  government  of  such  islands 
all  the  civil,  judicial,  and  military  powers  exercised  by  the  officers 
of  the  existing  government  in  said  islands  shall  be  vested  in  such 
person  or  persons  and  shall  be  exercised  in  such  manner  as  the 
President  of  the  United  States  shall  direct;  and  the  President 
shall  have  power  to  remove  said  officers  and  fill  the  vacancies  so 
occasioned. 

The  existing  treaties  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  with  foreign  na 
tions  shall  forthwith  cease  and  determine,  being  replaced  by  such 
treaties  as  may  exist,  or  as  may  be  hereafter  concluded,  between 
the  United  States  and  such  foreign  nations.  The  municipal  leg 
islation  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  not  enacted  for  the  fulfillment 
of  the  treaties  so  extinguished,  and  not  inconsistent  with  this 
joint  resolution  nor  contrary  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  nor  to  any  existing  treaty  of  the  United  States,  shall  remain 
in  force  until  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  shall  otherwise 
determine. 

Until  legislation  shall  be  enacted  extending  the  United  States 
customs  laws  and  regulations  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands  the  existing 
customs  relations  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  with  the  United  States 
and  other  countries  shall  remain  unchanged. 


602  TREATY   OF  PARIS  [Dec.  10 

The  public  debt  of  the  Republic  of  Hawaii,  lawfully  existing 
at  the  date  of  the  passage  of  this  joint  resolution,  including  the 
amounts  due  to  depositors  in  the  Hawaiian  Postal  Savings  Bank,  is 
hereby  assumed  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States ;  but  the 
liability  of  the  United  States  in  this  regard  shall  in  no  case  exceed 
four  million  dollars.  So  long,  however,  as  the  existing  Govern 
ment  and  the  present  commercial  relations  of  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  are  continued  as  hereinbefore  provided  said  Government 
shall  continue  to  pay  the  interest  on  said  debt. 

There  shall  be  no  further  immigration  of  Chinese  into  the  Ha 
waiian  Islands,  except  upon  such  conditions  as  are  now  or  may 
hereafter  be  allowed  by  the  laws  of  the  United  States;  and  no 
Chinese,  by  reason  of  anything  herein  contained,  shall  be  allowed 
to  enter  the  United  States  from  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 

The  President  shall  appoint  five  commissioners,  at  least  two  of 
whom  shall  be  residents  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  who  shall,  as 
soon  as  reasonably  practicable,  recommend  to  Congress  such 
legislation  concerning  the  Hawaiian  Islands  as  they  shall  deem 
necessary  or  proper. 

SEC.  2.  That  the  commissioners  hereinbefore  provided  for 
shall  be  appointed  by  the  President,  by  and  with  the  advice  and 
consent  of  the  Senate. 

******** 


No.  187.    Treaty  of  Paris 

December  10,  1898 

OVERTURES  for  peace  between  the  United  States  and  Spain  were  begun 
July  26,  1898,  through  Jules  Cambon,  the  French  ambassador,  resulting, 
August  12,  in  the  signing  of  a  protocol  and  the  suspension  of  hostilities. 
Commissioners  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  were  named  August  26, 
Senator  George  Gray  of  Delaware  being  appointed,  September  9,  in  place  of 
Justice  Edward  D.  White,  who  declined  to  serve.  The  commissioners  of  the 
two  countries  met  at  Paris  October  i,  and  December  10  concluded  a  treaty 
of  peace.  The  Senate  ratified  the  treaty  February  6,  1899,  and  April  n  the 
treaty  was  proclaimed.  The  appropriation  of  $20,000,000  called  for  by 
Article  III  was  made  March  2. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XXX.,  1754-1762.  For 
the  protocols  and  other  documents  see  Senate  Doc.  62,  55th  Cong.,  3d  Sess. 


1898]  TREATY   OF   PARIS  603 


ARTICLE  I. 

Spain  relinquishes  all  claim  of  sovereignty  over  and  title  to 
Cuba. 

And  as  the  island  is,  upon  its  evacuation  by  Spain,  to  be  oc 
cupied  by  the  United  States,  the  United  States  will,  so  long  as 
such  occupation  shall  last,  assume  and  discharge  the  obligations 
that  may  under  international  law  result  from  the  fact  of  its  occupa 
tion,  for  the  protection  of  life  and  property. 

ARTICLE  II. 

Spain  cedes  to  the  United  States  the  island  of  Porto  Rico  and 
other  islands  now  under  Spanish  sovereignty  in  the  West  Indies, 
and  the  island  of  Guam  in  the  Marianas  or  Ladrones. 

ARTICLE    III. 

Spain  cedes  to  the  United  States  the  archipelago  known  as  the 
Philippine  Islands,  and  comprehending  the  islands  lying  within 
the  following  line: 

A  line  running  from  west  to  east  along  or  near  the  twentieth 
parallel  of  north  latitude,  and  through  the  middle  of  the  navigable 
channel  of  Bachi,  from  the  one  hundred  and  eighteenth  (n8th) 
to  the  one  hundred  and  twenty  seventh  (i27th)  degree  meridian 
of  longitude  east  of  Greenwich,  thence  along  the  one  hundred 
and  twenty  seventh  (i2yth)  degree  meridian  of  longitude  east  of 
Greenwich  to  the  parallel  of  four  degrees  and  forty  five  minutes 
(4°  45')  north  latitude,  thence  along  the  parallel  of  four  degrees 
and  forty  five  minutes  (4°  45')  north  latitude  to  its  intersection 
with  the  meridian  of  longitude  one  hundred  and  nineteen  degrees 
and  thirty  five  minutes  (119°  35')  east  of  Greenwich,  thence 
along  the  meridian  of  longitude  one  hundred  and  nineteen  de 
grees  and  thirty  five  minutes  (119°  35')  east  of  Greenwich  to 
the  parallel  of  latitude  seven  degrees  and  forty  minutes  (7°  40') 
north,  thence  along  the  parallel  of  latitude  seven  degrees  and 
forty  minutes  (7°  40')  north  to  its  intersection  with  the  one  hundred 
and  sixteenth  (n6th)  degree  meridian  of  longitude  east  of  Green 
wich,  thence  by  a  direct  line  to  the  intersection  of  the  tenth  (zoth) 


604  TREATY   OF   PARIS  [Dec.  le 

degree  parallel  of  north  latitude  with  the  one  hundred  and  eigh 
teenth  (n8th)  degree  meridian  of  longitude  east  of  Greenwich, 
and  thence  along  the  one  hundred  and  eighteenth  (n8th)  degree 
meridian  of  longitude  east  of  Greenwich  to  the  point  of  beginning. 
The  United  States  will  pay  to  Spain  the  sum  of  twenty  million 
dollars  ($20,000,000)  within  three  months  after  the  exchange  of 
the  ratifications  of  the  present  treaty. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

The  United  States  will,  for  the  term  of  ten  years  from  the  date 
of  the  exchange  of  the  ratifications  of  the  present  treaty,  admit 
Spanish  ships  and  merchandise  to  the  ports  of  the  Philippine 
Islands  on  the  same  terms  as  ships  and  merchandise  of  the  United 
States. 

ARTICLE  V. 

The  United  States  will,  upon  the  signature  of  the  present  treaty, 
send  back  to  Spain,  at  its  own  cost,  the  Spanish  soldiers  taken 
as  prisoners  of  war  on  the  capture  of  Manila  by  the  American 
forces.  The  arms  of  the  soldiers  in  question  shall  be  restored  to 
them. 

Spain  will,  upon  the  exchange  of  the  ratifications  of  the  present 
treaty,  proceed  to  evacuate  the  Philippines,  as  well  as  the  island 
of  Guam,  on  terms  similar  to  those  agreed  upon  by  the  Com 
missioners  appointed  to  arrange  for  the  evacuation  of  Porto 
Rico  and  other  islands  in  the  West  Indies,  under  the  Protocol 
of  August  12,  1898,  which  is  to  continue  in  force  till  its  provi 
sions  are  completely  executed. 


ARTICLE  VI. 

Spain  will,  upon  the  signature  of  the  present  treaty,  release  all 
prisoners  of  war,  and  all  persons  detained  or  imprisoned  for  politi 
cal  offences,  in  connection  with  the  insurrections  in  Cuba  and  the 
Philippines  and  the  war  with  the  United  States. 

Reciprocally,  the  United  States  will  release  all  persons  made 
prisoners  of  war  by  the  American  forces,  and  will  undertake  to 
obtain  the  release  of  all  Spanish  prisoners  in  the  hands  of  the 
insurgents  in  Cuba  and  the  Philippines. 


1898]  TREATY   OF   PARIS  605 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  will  at  its  own  cost  return 
to  Spain  and  the  Government  of  Spain  will  at  its  own  cost  return  to 
the  United  States,  Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  and  the  Philippines,  accord 
ing  to  the  situation  of  their  respective  homes,  prisoners  released  or 
caused  to  be  released  by  them,  respectively,  under  this  article. 

ARTICLE  VII. 

The  United  States  and  Spain  mutually  relinquish  all  claims 
for  indemnity,  national  and  individual,  of  every  kind,  of  either 
Government,  or  of  its  citizens  or  subjects,  against  the  other  Gov 
ernment,  that  may  have  arisen  since  the  beginning  of  the  late 
insurrection  in  Cuba  and  prior  to  the  exchange  of  ratifications 
of  the  present  treaty,  including  all  claims  for  indemnity  for  the 
cost  of  the  war. 

The  United  States  will  adjudicate  and  settle  the  claims  of  its 
citizens  against  Spain  relinquished  in  this  article. 

ARTICLE  VIII. 

In  conformity  with  the  provisions  of  Articles  I,  II,  and  III  of  this 
treaty,  Spain  relinquishes  in  Cuba,  and  cedes  in  Porto  Rico  and 
other  islands  in  the  West  Indies,  in  the  island  of  Guam,  and  in  the 
Philippine  Archipelago,  all  the  buildings,  wharves,  barracks,  forts, 
structures,  public  highways  and  other  immovable  property  which, 
in  conformity  with  law,  belong  to  the  public  domain,  and  as  such 
belong  to  the  Crown  of  Spain. 

And  it  is  hereby  declared  that  the  relinquishment  or  cession, 
as  the  case  may  be,  to  which  the  preceding  paragraph  refers, 
cannot  in  any  respect  impair  the  property  or  rights  which  by  law 
belong  to  the  peaceful  possession  of  property  of  all  kinds,  of  prov 
inces,  municipalities,  public  or  private  establishments,  ecclesias 
tical  or  civic  bodies,  or  any  other  associations  having  legal  capacity 
to  acquire  and  possess  property  in  the  aforesaid  territories  re 
nounced  or  ceded,  or  of  private  individuals,  of  whatsoever  nation 
ality  such  individuals  may  be. 

The  aforesaid  relinquishment  or  session,  as  the  case  may  be, 
includes  all  documents  exclusively  referring  to  the  sovereignty 
relinquished  or  ceded  that  may  exist  in  the  archives  of  the  Penin 
sula.  Where  any  document  in  such  archives  only  in  part  relates 


606  TREATY  OF  PARIS  [Dec.  10 

to  said  sovereignty,  a  copy  of  such  part  will  be  furnished  whenever 
it  shall  be  requested.  Like  rules  shall  be  reciprocally  observed 
in  favor  of  Spain  in  respect  of  documents  in  the  archives  of  the 
islands  above  referred  to. 

In  the  aforesaid  relinquishment  or  cession,  as  the  case  may  be, 
are  also  included  such  rights  as  the  Crown  of  Spain  and  its  authori 
ties  possess  in  respect  of  the  official  archives  and  records,  execu 
tive  as  well  as  judicial,  in  the  islands  above  referred  to,  which 
relate  to  said  islands  or  the  rights  and  property  of  their  inhabit 
ants.  Such  archives  and  records  shall  be  carefully  preserved, 
and  private  persons  shall  without  distinction  have  the  right  to 
require,  in  accordance  with  law,  authenticated  copies  of  i;he  con 
tracts,  wills  and  other  instruments  forming  part  of  notarial  proto 
cols  or  files,  or  which  may  be  contained  in  the  executive  or  judi 
cial  archives,  be  the  latter  in  Spain  or  in  the  islands  aforesaid. 

ARTICLE  IX. 

Spanish  subjects,  natives  of  the  Peninsula,  residing  in  the  terri 
tory  over  which  Spain  by  the  present  treaty  relinquishes  or  cedes 
her  sovereignty,  may  remain  in  such  territory  or  may  remove  there 
from,  retaining  in  either  event  all  their  rights  of  property,  includ 
ing  the  right  to  sell  or  dispose  of  such  property  or  of  its  proceeds ; 
and  they  shall  also  have  the  right  to  carry  on  their  industry,  com 
merce  and  professions,  being  subject  in  respect  thereof  to  such 
laws  as  are  applicable  to  other  foreigners.  In  case  they  remain 
in  the  territory  they  may  preserve  their  allegiance  to  the  Crown 
of  Spain  by  making,  before  a  court  of  record,  within  a  year  from 
the  date  of  the  exchange  of  ratifications  of  this  treaty,  a  declaration 
of  their  decision  to  preserve  such  allegiance;  in  default  of  which 
declaration  they  shall  be  held  to  have  renounced  it  and  to  have 
adopted  the  nationality  of  the  territory  in  which  they  may  reside. 

The  civil  rights  and  political  status  of  the  native  inhabitants  of 
the  territories  hereby  ceded  to  the  United  States  shall  be  deter 
mined  by  the  Congress. 

ARTICLE  X. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  territories  over  which  Spain  relinquishes 
or  cedes  her  sovereignty  shall  be  secured  in  the  free  exercise  of 
their  religion. 


1898]  TREATY   OF   PARIS  607 


ARTICLE  XI. 

The  Spaniards  residing  in  the  territories  over  which  Spain  by 
this  treaty  cedes  or  relinquishes  her  sovereignty  shall  be  subject 
in  matters  civil  as  well  as  criminal  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  courts 
of  the  country  wherein  they  reside,  pursuant  to  the  ordinary  laws 
governing  the  same;  and  they  shall  have  the  right  to  appear 
before  such  courts,  and  to  pursue  the  same  course  as  citizens  of 
the  country  to  which  the  courts  belong. 

ARTICLE  XII. 

Judicial  proceedings  pending  at  the  time  of  the  exchange  of 
ratifications  of  this  treaty  in  the  territories  over  which  Spain  relin 
quishes  or  cedes  her  sovereignty  shall  be  determined  according  to 
the  following  rules: 

1.  Judgments  rendered  either  in  civil  suits  between  private 
individuals,  or  in  criminal  matters,  before  the  date  mentioned, 
and  with  respect  to  which  there  is  no  recourse  or  right  of  review 
under  the  Spanish  law,  shall  be  deemed  to  be  final,  and  shall  be 
executed  in  due  form  by  competent  authority  in    the    territory 
within  which  such  judgments  should  be  carried  out. 

2.  Civil  suits  between  private  individuals  which  may  on  the 
date  mentioned  be  undetermined  shall  be  prosecuted  to  judgment 
before  the  court  in  which  they  may  then  be  pending  or  in  the 
court  that  may  be  substituted  therefor. 

3.  Criminal  actions  pending  on  the  date  mentioned  before  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Spain  against  citizens  of  the  territory  which  by 
this  treaty  ceases  to  be  Spanish  shall  continue  under  its  jurisdiction 
until  final  judgment;   but,  such  judgment  having  been  rendered, 
the  execution  thereof  shall  be  committed  to  the  competent  authority 
of  the  place  in  which  the  case  arose. 

ARTICLE  XIII. 

The  rights  of  property  secured  by  copyrights  and  patents 
acquired  by  Spaniards  in  the  Island  of  Cuba,  and  in  Porto  Rico, 
the  Philippines  and  other  ceded  territories,  at  the  time  of  the 
exchange  of  the  ratifications  of  this  treaty,  shall  continue  to  be 
respected.  Spanish  scientific,  literary  and  artistic  works,  not 


608  TREATY   OF   PARIS  [Dec.  10,  1898 

subversive  of  public  order  in  the  territories  in  question,  shall  con 
tinue  to  be  admitted  free  of  duty  into  such  territories,  for  the 
period  of  ten  years,  to  be  reckoned  from  the  date  of  the  exchange 
of  the  ratifications  of  this  treaty. 

ARTICLE  XIV. 

Spain  shall  have  the  power  to  establish  consular  officers  in  the 
ports  and  places  of  the  territories,  the  sovereignty  over  which  has 
been  either  relinquished  or  ceded  by  the  present  treaty. 

ARTICLE  XV. 

The  Government  of  each  country  will,  for  the  term  of  ten  years, 
accord  to  the  merchant  vessels  of  the  other  country  the  same 
treatment  in  respect  of  all  port  charges,  including  entrance  and 
clearance  dues,  light  dues,  and  tonnage  duties,  as  it  accords  to 
its  own  merchant  vessels,  not  engaged  in  the  coastwise  trade. 

This  article  may  at  any  time  be  terminated  on  six  months' 
notice  given  by  either  Government  to  the  other. 

ARTICLE  XVI. 

It  is  understood  that  any  obligations  assumed  in  this  treaty  by 
the  United  States  with  respect  to  Cuba  are  limited  to  the  time  of 
its  occupancy  thereof;  but  it  will  upon  the  termination  of  such 
occupancy,  advise  any  Government  established  in  the  island  to 

assume  the  same  obligations. 

*  *  #    ^         *  *  *  *  *i 

1  Signed  in  duplicate,  in  Spanish  and  English.  The  English  text  is  signed: 
"William  R.  Day,  Cushman  K.  Davis,  Wm.  P.  Frye,  Geo.  Gray  Whitelaw 
Reid."  The  Spanish  text  is  signed:  "Eugenic  Montero  Rios,  B.  de  Abarzuza, 
J.  de  Garnica,  W  R  de  Villa  Urrutia,  Rafael  Cerero."  —  ED. 


March  14,  1900]  GOLD    STANDARD   ACT  609 


No.  1 88.     Gold  Standard  Act 

March  14,  1900 

A  BILL  embodying  the  recommendations  of  the  Indianapolis  Monetary 
Commission  was  introduced  in  the  House,  January  6,  1898,  by  Jesse  Over- 
street  of  Indiana,  and  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Banking  and  Currency, 
but  was  not  reported.  A  bill  with  the  same  title  as  that  of  the  act  below  was 
introduced  by  Overstreet  December  4,  1899,  taken  up  under  special  order 
on  the  nth,  and  considered  until  the  iSth,  when  it  passed  the  House,  which 
had  not  yet  completed  its  organization  by  the  appointment  of  committees, 
by  a  vote  of  190  to  150,  14  not  voting.  A  substitute  for  the  House  bill, 
reported  by  the  Senate  Committee  on  Finance  the  next  day,  passed  the 
Senate  with  amendments  February  15,  1900,  by  a  vote  of  46  to  29,  n  not 
voting.  The  bill  was  given  its  final  form  by  a  conference  committee,  the 
report  of  the  committee  being  agreed  to  by  the  Senate,  March  6,  by  a  vote 
of  44  to  26,  17  not  voting,  and  by  the  House,  March  13,  by  a  vote  of  166 
to  120,  10  answering  "present,"  and  54  not  voting.  On  the  i4th  the  act 
was  approved.  A  coinage  system  for  the  Philippine  Islands  was  established 
by  an  act  of  March  2,  1903. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  XXXI.,  45-50.  For  the 
debates  see  the  Cong.  Record,  56th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.  The  text  of  the  con 
ference  report,  with  a  statement  of  the  House  conferees,  is  in  the  Record 
for  March  7.  See  also  the  Report  of  the  Indianapolis  Monetary  Commission 
(1898);  Dewey,  Financial  History  of  the  C7.  S.  (3d  ed.,  1907),  468-473; 
Hepburn,  History  of  Coinage  and  Currency,  chap.  18. 

An  Act  To  define  and  fix  the  standard  of  value,  to  maintain  the  parity 
of  all  forms  of  money  issued  or  coined  by  the  United  States,  to  refund 
the  public  debt,  and  for  other  purposes. 

Be  U  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  the  dollar  consisting  of  twenty-five 
and  eight-tenths  grains  of  gold  nine-tenths  fine,  as  established 
by  section  thirty-five  hundred  and  eleven  of  the  Revised  Statutes 
of  the  United  States,  shall  be  the  standard  unit  of  value,  and  all 
forms  of  money  issued  or  coined  by  the  United  States  shall  be 
maintained  at  a  parity  of  value  with  this  standard,  and  it  shall 
be  the  duty  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  maintain  such 
parity. 

SEC.  2.  That  United  States  notes,  and  Treasury  notes 
issued  under  the  Act  of  ...  [July  14,  1890]  .  .  .  ,  when  pre 
sented  to  the  Treasury  for  redemption,  shall  be  redeemed  in 
gold  coin  of  the  standard  fixed  in  the  first  section  of  this  Act, 
and  in  order  to  secure  the  prompt  and  certain  redemption  of 

2R 


6lO  GOLD    STANDARD   ACT  [March  14 

such  notes  as  herein  provided  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury  to  set  apart  in  the  Treasury  a  reserve  fund 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty  million  dollars  in  gold  coin  and  bullion, 
which  fund  shall  be  used  for  such  redemption  purposes  only, 
and  whenever  and  as  often  as  any  of  said  notes  shall  be  redeemed 
from  said  fund  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas 
ury  to  use  said  notes  so  redeemed  to  restore  and  maintain  such 
reserve  fund  in  the  manner  following,  to  wit :  First,  by  exchang 
ing  the  notes  so  redeemed  for  any  gold  coin  in  the  general 
fund  of  the  Treasury ;  second,  by  accepting  deposits  of  gold 
coin  at  the  Treasury  or  at  any  subtreasury  in  exchange  for  the 
United  States  notes  so  redeemed ;  third,  by  procuring  gold  coin 
by  the  use  of  said  notes,  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of 
section  thirty-seven  hundred  of  the  Revised  Statutes  of  the 
United  States.  If  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is  unable  to 
restore  and  maintain  the  gold  coin  in  the  reserve  fund  by  the 
foregoing  methods,  and  the  amount  of  such  gold  coin  and 
bullion  in  said  fund  shall  at  any  time  fall  below  one  hundred 
million  dollars,  then  it  shall  be  his  duty  to  restore  the  same  to 
the  maximum  sum  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  million  dollars 
by  borrowing  money  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States,  and  for 
the  debt  thus  incurred  to  issue  and  sell  coupon  or  registered 
bonds  of  the  United  States,  in  such  form  as  he  may  prescribe, 
in  denominations  of  fifty  dollars  or  any  multiple  thereof,  bear 
ing  interest  at  the  rate  of  not  exceeding  three  per  centum  per 
annum,  payable  quarterly,  such  bonds  to  be  payable  at  the 
pleasure  of  the  United  States  after  one  year  from  the  date  of 
their  issue,  and  to  be  payable,  principal  and  interest,  in  gold 
coin  of  the  present  standard  value,  and  to  be  exempt  from  the 
payment  of  all  taxes  or  duties  of  the  United  States,  as  well  as 
from  taxation  in  any  form  by  or  under  State,  municipal,  or 
local  authority ;  and  the  gold  coin  received  from  the  sale  of 
said  bonds  shall  first  be  covered  into  the  general  fund  of  the 
Treasury  and  then  exchanged,  in  the  manner  hereinbefore  pro 
vided,  for  an  equal  amount  of  the  notes  redeemed  and  held  for 
exchange,  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  may,  in  his  dis 
cretion,  use  said  notes  in  exchange  for  gold,  or  to  purchase  or 
redeem  any  bonds  of  the  United  States,  or  for  any  other  lawful 
purpose  the  public  interests  may  require,  except  that  they  shall 


1900]  GOLD   STANDARD   ACT  6ll 

not  be  used  to  meet  deficiencies  in  the  current  revenues.  That 
United  States  notes  when  redeemed  in  accordance  with  the 
provisions  of  this  section  shall  be  reissued,  but  shall  be  held 
in  the  reserve  fund  until  exchanged  for  gold,  as  herein  provided ; 
and  the  gold  coin  and  bullion  in  the  reserve  fund,  together 
with  the  redeemed  notes  held  for  use  as  provided  in  this  sec 
tion,  shall  at  no  time  exceed  the  maximum  sum  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty  million  dollars. 

SEC.  3.  That  nothing  contained  in  this  Act  shall  be  con 
strued  to  affect  the  legal-tender  quality  as  now  provided  by 
law  of  the  silver  dollar,  or  of  any  other  money  coined  or  issued 
by  the  United  States. 

SEC.  4.  [Divisions  of  issue  and  redemption  to  be  established 
in  the  Treasury  Department.] 

SEC.  5.  That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  as  fast  as  standard  silver  dollars  are  coined  under 
the  provisions  of  the  Acts  of  ...  [July  14,  1890,  and  June  13, 
1898]  .  .  .  ,  from  bullion  purchased  under  the  Act  of  ... 
[July  14,  1890]  .  .  .  ,  to  retire  and  cancel  an  equal  amount  of 
Treasury  notes  whenever  received  into  the  Treasury,  either  by 
exchange  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  this  Act  or  in 
the  ordinary  course  of  business,  and  upon  the  cancellation  of 
Treasury  notes  silver  certificates  shall  be  issued  against  the 
silver  dollars  so  coined. 

SEC.  6.  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is  hereby  author 
ized  and  directed  to  receive  deposits  of  gold  coin  with  the 
Treasurer  or  any  assistant  treasurer  of  the  United  States  in 
sums  of  not  less  than  twenty  dollars,  and  to  issue  gold  certifi 
cates  therefor  in  denominations  of  not  less  than  twenty  dollars, 
and  the  coin  so  deposited  shall  be  retained  in  the  Treasury 
and  held  for  the  payment  of  such  certificates  on  demand,  and 
used  for  no  other  purpose.  Such  certificates  shall  be  receivable 
for  customs,  taxes,  and  all  public  dues,  and  when  so  received 
may  be  reissued,  and  when  held  by  any  national  banking  asso 
ciation  may  be  counted  as  a  part  of  its  lawful  reserve:  Pro 
vided,1  That  whenever  and  so  long  as  the  gold  coin  held  in  the 
reserve  fund  in  the  Treasury  for  the  redemption  of  United  States 

1  Amended  by  acts  of  May  26,  1906  (U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  XXXIV.,  Part  i, 
202),  and  March  4,  1907  (ibid.,  XXXIV.,  Part  i,  1289,  1290).  —  En. 


612  GOLD   STANDARD   ACT  [March  14 

notes  and  Treasury  notes  shall  fall  and  remain  below  one  hun 
dred  million  dollars  the  authority  to  issue  certificates  as  herein 
provided  shall  be  suspended:  And  provided  further,  That 
whenever  and  so  long  as  the  aggregate  amount  of  United  States 
notes  and  silver  certificates  in  the  general  fund  of  the  Treasury 
shall  exceed  sixty  million  dollars  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
may,  in  his  discretion,  suspend  the  issue  of  the  certificates  herein 
provided  for :  And  provided  further,  That  of  the  amount  of  such 
outstanding  certificates  one-fourth  at  least  shall  be  in  denom 
inations  of  fifty  dollars  or  less  :  And  provided  further,  That  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  may,  in  his  discretion,  issue  such 
certificates  in  denominations  of  ten  thousand  dollars,  payable 
to  order.  [Sec.  5193  of  Revised  Statutes  repealed.] 

SEC.  7.  That  hereafter  silver  certificates  shall  be  issued 
only  of  denominations  of  ten  dollars  and  under,  except  that  not 
exceeding  in  the  aggregate  ten  per  centum  of  the  total  volume 
of  said  certificates,  in  the  discretion  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  may  be  issued  in  denominations  of  twenty  dollars, 
fifty  dollars,  and  one  hundred  dollars;  and  silver  certificates 
of  higher  denomination  than  ten  dollars,  except  as  herein  pro 
vided,  shall,  whenever  received  at  the  Treasury  or  redeemed, 
be  retired  and  canceled,  and  certificates  of  denominations 
of  ten  dollars  or  less  shall  be  substituted  therefor,  and  after 
such  substitution,  in  whole  or  in  part,  a  like  volume  of  United 
States  notes  of  less  denomination  than  ten  dollars  shall  from  time 
to  time  be  retired  and  canceled,  and  notes  of  denominations  of 
ten  dollars  and  upward  shall  be  reissued  in  substitution  therefor, 
with  like  qualities  and  restrictions  as  those  retired  and  canceled.1 

SEC.  8.  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is  hereby  author 
ized  to  use,  at  his  discretion,  any  silver  bullion  in  the  Treasury 
of  the  United  States  purchased  under  the  Act  of  ...  [July  14, 
1890]  .  .  .  ,  for  coinage  into  such  denominations  of  subsidiary 
silver  coin  as  may  be  necessary  to  meet  the  public  requirements 
for  such  coin :  Provided,  That  the  amount  of  subsidiary  silver 
coin  outstanding  shall  not  at  any  time  exceed  in  the  aggregate 
one  hundred  millions  of  dollars.  Whenever  any  silver  bullion 
purchased  under  the  Act  of  ...  [July  14,  1890]  .  .  .  ,  shall 
be  used  in  the  coinage  of  subsidiary  silver  coin,  an  amount  of 

1  Amended  by  act  of  March  4,  1907  (U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  XXXIV.,  1289).  — ED. 


IQOO]  GOLD    STANDARD   ACT  613 

Treasury  notes  issued  under  said  Act  equal  to  the  cost  of  the 
bullion  contained  in  such  coin  shall  be  canceled  and  not  reissued. 

SEC.  9.     [Uncurrent  subsidiary  silver  coin  to  be  recoined.] 
******** 

SEC.  ii.  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is  hereby 
authorized  to  receive  at  the  Treasury  any  of  the  outstanding 
bonds  of  the  United  States  bearing  interest  at  five  per  centum 
per  annum,  payable  .  .  .  [February  i,  1904]  .  .  .  ,  and  any 
bonds  of  the  United  States  bearing  interest  at  four  per  centum 
per  annum,  payable  .  .  .  [July  i,  1907]  .  .  .  ,  and  any  bonds 
of  the  United  States  bearing  interest  at  three  per  centum  per 
annum,  payable  .  .  .  [August  i,  1908]  .  .  .  ,  and  to  issue  in 
exchange  therefor  an  equal  amount  of  coupon  or  registered 
bonds  of  the  United  States  in  such  form  as  he  may  prescribe, 
in  denominations  of  fifty  dollars  or  any  multiple  thereof,  bear 
ing  interest  at  the  rate  of  two  per  centum  per  annum,  payable 
quarterly,  such  bonds  to  be  payable  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
United  States  after  thirty  years  from  the  date  of  their  issue, 
and  said  bonds  to  be  payable,  principal  and  interest,  in  gold 
coin  of  the  present  standard  value,  and  to  be  exempt  from  the 
payment  of  all  taxes  or  duties  of  the  United  States,  as  well  as 
from  taxation  in  any  form  by  or  under  State,  municipal,  or  local 
authority :  Provided,  That  such  outstanding  bonds  may  be  re 
ceived  in  exchange  at  a  valuation  not  greater  than  their  present 
worth  to  yield  an  income  of  two  and  one-quarter  per  centum 
per  annum ;  and  in  consideration  of  the  reduction  of  interest 
effected,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is  authorized  to  pay  to 
the  holders  of  the  outstanding  bonds  surrendered  for  exchange, 
out  of  any  money  in  the  Treasury  not  otherwise  appropriated, 
a  sum  not  greater  than  the  difference  between  their  present 

worth,  computed  as  aforesaid,  and  their  par  value  .... 
******** 

SEC.  14.  That  the  provisions  of  this  Act  are  not  intended 
to  preclude  the  accomplishment  of  international  bimetallism 
whenever  conditions  shall  make  it  expedient  and  practicable 
to  secure  the  same  by  concurrent  action  of  the  leading  com 
mercial  nations  of  the  world  and  at  a  ratio  which  shall  insure 
permanence  of  relative  value  between  gold  and  silver. 

Approved,  March  14,  1900. 


6 14        TREATY  REGARDING  ISTHMIAN  CANAL    [November  18 

No.  189.     Treaty  with  Great  Britain  regard 
ing  an  Isthmian  Canal 

November  18,  1901 

BY  the  Clayton-Bulwer  treaty  of  1850  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain  agreed  upon  a  joint  control  and  neutralization  of  any  isthmian 
canal  that  might  thereafter  be  constructed.  The  apparent  prospect  of 
the  construction  of  a  canal  at  Panama  by  a  French  company  led  to  an  in 
creasing  demand  in  the  United  States  for  the  abrogation  of  the  treaty,  and  for 
the  control  of  the  canal  by  the  United  States  alone.  The  Hay-Pauncefote 
treaty  of  February  5,  1900,  authorized  the  construction  of  a  canal  either 
by  the  United  States  or  by  a  private  corporation,  but  retained  the  provision 
for  neutralization.  Amendments  made  by  the  Senate,  declaring  the  Clay 
ton-Bulwer  treaty  superseded  and  authorizing  defensive  measures  by  the 
United  States  in  the  management  of  the  canal,  were  rejected  by  Great 
Britain,  and  the  treaty  failed.  The  Hay-Pauncefote  treaty  of  November 
18,  1901,  in  form  a  compromise  between  the  original  draft  of  1900  and  the 
Senate  amendments,  was  ratified  by  President  Roosevelt  December  26, 
and  by  Great  Britain  January  20,  1902,  and  on  February  22  was  proclaimed. 
See  post,  Nos.  191  and  192. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Slat,  at  Large,  XXXII.,  Part  2,  1903- 
1905.  The  treaty  of  1900,  with  other  documents,  is  in  Senate  Document  85, 
57th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.  (reprinted  in  Foreign  Relations,  1901,  pp.  237-246). 
The  comparative  merits  of  the  Nicaragua  and  Panama  routes  were  exhaust 
ively  treated  by  Senator  Morgan,  of  Alabama,  in  Senate  Report  1337,  56th 
Cong.,  ist  Sess.  See  also  the  report  of  the  Walker  commission,  November 
30,  1900  (Senate  Doc.  5,  56th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.).  For  the  diplomatic  history 
of  the  canal  question  see  Moore,  Digest  of  International  Law,  III.,  2-222. 

ARTICLE  I. 

The  High  Contracting  Parties  agree  that  the  present  Treaty 
shall  supersede  the  afore-mentioned  Convention  [the  Clayton- 
Bulwer  treaty]  of  the  igth  April,  1850. 

ARTICLE  n. 

It  is  agreed  that  the  canal  may  be  constructed  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  either  directly 
at  its  own  cost,  or  by  gift  or  loan  of  money  to  individuals  or 
Corporations,  or  through  subscription  to  or  purchase  of  stock 
or  shares,  and  that,  subject  to  the  provisions  of  the  present 


TREATY  REGARDING  ISTHMIAN  CANAL  615 

Treaty,  the  said  Government  shall  have  and  enjoy  all  the  rights 
incident  to  such  construction,  as  well  as  the  exclusive  right  of 
providing  for  the  regulation  and  management  of  the  canal. 

ARTICLE  III. 

The  United  States  adopts,  as  the  basis  of  the  neutralization 
of  such  ship  canal,  the  following  Rules,  substantially  as  embodied 
in  the  Convention  of  Constantinople,  signed  the  28th  October, 
1888,  for  the  free  navigation  of  the  Suez  Canal,  that  is  to  say: 

1.  The  canal  shall  be  free  and  open  to  the  vessels  of  com 
merce  and  of  war  of  all  nations  observing  these  Rules,  on  terms 
of  entire  equality,   so  that  there  shall  be  no  discrimination 
against  any  such  nation,  or  its  citizens  or  subjects,  in  respect 
of   the  conditions  or  charges  of  traffic,   or  otherwise.     Such 
conditions  and  charges  of  traffic  shall  be  just  and  equitable. 

2.  The  canal  shall  never  be  blockaded,  nor  shall  any  right 
of  war  be  exercised  nor  any  act  of  hostility  be  committed  within 
it.     The  United  States,  however,  shall  be  at  liberty  to  main 
tain  such  military  police  along  the  canal  as  may  be  necessary 
to  protect  it  against  lawlessness  and  disorder. 

3.  Vessels   of   war  of  a  belligerent  shall  not  revictual  nor 
take  any  stores  in  the  canal  except  so  far  as  may  be  strictly 
necessary ;    and  the  transit  of  such  vessels  through  the  canal 
shall  be  effected  with  the  least  possible  delay  in  accordance  with 
the  Regulations  in  force,  and  with  only  such  intermission  as 
may  result  from  the  necessities  of  the  service. 

Prizes  shall  be  in  all  respects  subject  to  the  same  Rules  as 
vessels  of  war  of  the  belligerents. 

4.  No  belligerent  shall  embark  or  disembark  troops,   muni 
tions  of  war,  or  warlike  materials  in  the  canal,  except  in  case 
of  accidental  hindrance  of  the  transit,  and  in  such  case  the  transit 
shall  be  resumed  with  all  possible  dispatch. 

5.  The  provisions  of  this  Article  shall  apply  to  waters  adja 
cent  to  the  canal,  within  3  marine  miles  of  either  end.     Vessels 
of  war  of  a  belligerent  shall  not  remain  in  such  waters  longer 
than  twenty-four  hours  at  any  one  time,  except  in  case  of  dis 
tress,  and  in  such  case,  shall  depart  as  soon  as  possible ;   but  a 
vessel  of  war  of  one  belligerent  shall  not  depart  within  twenty- 


616  CHINESE   EXCLUSION  ACT  [April  29 

four  hours  from  the  departure  of  a  vessel  of  war  of  the  other 
belligerent. 

6.  The  plant,  establishments,  buildings,  and  all  works 
necessary  to  the  construction,  maintenance,  and  operation  of 
the  canal  shall  be  deemed  to  be  part  thereof,  for  the  purposes 
cf  this  Treaty,  and  in  time  of  war,  as  in  time  of  peace,  shall 
enjoy  complete  immunity  from  attack  or  injury  by  belligerents, 
and  from  acts  calculated  to  impair  their  usefulness  as  part  of 
the  canal. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

It  is  agreed  that  no  change  of  territorial  sovereignty  or  of 
the  international  relations  of  the  country  or  countries  traversed 
by  the  before-mentioned  canal  shall  affect  the  general  principle 
of  neutralization  or  the  obligation  of  the  High  Contracting 

Parties  under  the  present  Treaty. 

*          *          *          *         *         *         *         *  i 


No.  190.     Chinese  Exclusion  Act 

April  29,  1902 

A  BILL  to  prohibit  the  coming  of  Chinese  and  persons  of  Chinese  descent 
into  the  United  States,  and  to  regulate  the  residence  of  Chinese  therein,  was 
introduced  in  the  House,  January  18,  1902,  by  Julius  Kahn  of  California, 
and  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs.  The  immediate  occa 
sion  of  the  bill  was  the  approaching  expiration,  by  limitation,  of  the  "Geary 
act"  of  1892.  A  substitute  bill,  reported  by  James  B.  Perkins  of  New  York, 
March  26,  was  followed,  April  i,  by  another  substitute  bill  and  a  minority 
report  filed  by  Champ  Clark  of  Missouri.  The  substitute  bill  of  the  com 
mittee  was  taken  up  April  4,  and  on  the  7th  passed  the  House,  with  amend 
ments,  without  a  division.  The  Senate  Committee  on  Immigration  reported 
the  bill  without  amendment,  but  on  April  17  a  bill  on  the  same  subject, 
introduced  January  16  by  John  H.  Mitchell  of  Oregon,  and  passed  by  the 
Senate  April  16,  was  substituted  for  the  House  bill  and  the  bill  was  passed. 
Two  conference  committees  were  necessary  before  the  bill  received  its  final 
form.  The  report  of  the  second  conference  committee  was  accepted  by 
both  houses  April  28,  and  the  next  day  the  act  was  approved. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  XXXII.,  Part  I,  176,  177. 
For  the  debates  see  the  Cong.  Record,  57th  Cong.,  ist  Sess. ;  a  summary 

1  Signed :  "John  Hay,  Pauncefote."  —  ED. 


1 902]  CHINESE    EXCLUSION   ACT  617 

statement  of  the  differences  between  the  reports  of  the  first  and  second 
conference  committees  is  in  ibid.,  p.  4709.  The  Perkins  report  is  House 
Report  1231.  On  the  Mitchell  substitute,  said  to  embody  the  views  of  Pacific 
Coast  senators  and  representatives,  see  Senate  Report  776.  The  most  impor 
tant  work  on  the  general  subject  is  Coolidge,  Chinese  Immigration  (1909). 

An  Act  To  prohibit  the  coming  into  and  to  regulate  the  residence  within 
the  United  States,  its  Territories,  and  all  territory  under  its  jurisdiction, 
and  the  District  of  Columbia,  of  Chinese  and  persons  of  Chinese  descent. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  all  laws  now  in  force  prohibiting 
and  regulating  the  coming  of  Chinese  persons,  and  persons  of 
Chinese  descent,  into  the  United  States,  and  the  residence  of 
such  persons  therein  ....  be,  and  the  same  are  hereby,  re- 
enacted,  extended,  and  continued  so  far  as  the  same  are  not 
inconsistent  with  treaty  obligations,  until  otherwise  provided 
by  law,  and  said  laws  shall  also  apply  to  the  island  territory 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States,  and  prohibit  the 
immigration  of  Chinese  laborers,  not  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  from  such  island  territory  to  the  mainland  territory  of 
the  United  States,  whether  in  such  island  territory  at  the  time 
of  cession  or  not,  and  from  one  portion  of  the  island  territory 
of  the  United  States  to  another  portion  of  said  island  territory : 
Provided,  however,  That  said  laws  shall  not  apply  to  the  transit 
of  Chinese  laborers  from  one  island  to  another  island  of  the  same 
group;  and  any  islands  within  the  jurisdiction  of  any  State 
or  the  District  of  Alaska  shall  be  considered  a  part  of  the  main 
land  under  this  section. 

SEC.  2.  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is  hereby  author 
ized  and  empowered  to  make  and  prescribe,  and  from  time  to 
time  to  change,  such  rules  and  regulations  not  inconsistent 
with  the  laws  of  the  land  as  he  may  deem  necessary  and  proper 
to  execute  the  provisions  of  this  Act  and  of  the  Acts  hereby 
extended  and  continued  and  of  the  treaty  of  ...  [December  8, 
1894,]  .  .  .  between  the  United  States  and  China,  and  with  the 
approval  of  the  President  to  appoint  such  agents  as  he  may  deem 
necessary  for  the  efficient  execution  of  said  treaty  and  said  Acts. 

SEC.  3.  That  nothing  in  the  provisions  of  this  Act  or  any 
other  Act  shall  be  construed  to  prevent,  hinder,  or  restrict 
any  foreign  exhibitor,  representative,  or  citizen  of  any  foreign 


6l8  CONSTRUCTION   OF   AN   ISTHMIAN  CANAL     [June  28 

nation,  or  the  holder,  who  is  a  citizen  of  any  foreign  nation,  of 
any  concession  or  privilege  from  any  fair  or  exposition  author 
ized  by  Act  of  Congress  from  bringing  into  the  United  States, 
under  contract,  such  mechanics,  artisans,  agents,  or  other 
employees,  natives  of  their  respective  foreign  countries,  as 
they  or  any  of  them  may  deem  necessary  for  the  purpose  of  mak 
ing  preparation  for  installing  or  conducting  their  exhibits  or  of 
preparing  for  installing  or  conducting  any  business  authorized 
or  permitted  under  or  by  virtue  of  or  pertaining  to  any  conces 
sion  or  privilege  which  may  have  been  or  may  be  granted  by 
any  said  fair  or  exposition  in  connection  with  such  exposition, 
under  such  rules  and  regulations  as  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
may  prescribe,  both  as  to  the  admission  and  return  of  such 
person  or  persons. 

SEC.  4.  That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  every  Chinese  laborer, 
other  than  a  citizen,  rightfully  in,  and  entitled  to  remain  in  any 
of  the  insular  territory  of  the  United  States  (Hawaii  excepted) 
at  the  time  of  the  passage  of  this  Act,  to  obtain  within  one  year 
thereafter  a  certificate  of  residence  in  the  insular  territory 
wherein  he  resides,  which  certificate  shall  entitle  him  to  residence 
therein,  and  upon  failure  to  obtain  such  certificate  as  herein 
provided  he  shall  be  deported  from  such  insular  territory ;  and 
the  Philippine  Commission  is  authorized  and  required  to  make 
all  regulations  and  provisions  necessary  for  the  enforcement 
of  this  section  in  the  Philippine  Islands,  including  the  form  and 
substance  of  the  certificate  of  residence  so  that  the  same  shall 
clearly  and  sufficiently  identify  the  holder  thereof  and  enable 
officials  to  prevent  fraud  in  the  transfer  of  the  same  .  .  . 

Approved,  April  29,  1902. 


No.  191.     Act  for  the  Construction  of  an 
Isthmian  Canal 

June  28,  1902 

A  BILL  for  the  construction  of  an  isthmian  canal  was  introduced  in  the 
House,  December  6,  1901,  by  William  P.  Hepburn  of  Iowa,  and  referred 
to  the  Committee  on  Interstate  and  Foreign  Commerce.  On  the 


i9o2]          CONSTRUCTION  OF   AN   ISTHMIAN   CANAL          619 

the  bill  was  reported  with  amendments,  and  on  January  7,  1902,  passed 
by  a  vote  of  308  to  2,  i  answering  "present",  and  44  not  voting.  The 
Senate  Committee  on  Interoceanic  Canal  reported  the  bill,  March  13,  1902, 
without  amendment.  The  bill  was  taken  up  in  the  Senate  April  17,  and 
June  19  passed  with  amendments  by  a  vote  of  67  to  6,  15  not  voting.  The 
House  accepted  the  Senate  amendments,  and  June  28  the  act  was  approved. 
An  act  of  June  29,  1906,  authorized  the  construction  of  a  lock  canal  across 
the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  "  of  the  general  type  proposed  by  the  minority  of 
the  Board  of  Consulting  Engineers"  created  by  order  of  President  Roose 
velt,  January  24,  1905. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  XXXII.,  Part  I,  481-484. 
For  the  debates  see  the  Cong.  Record,  57th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.  Senate  Report  i 
is  a  comprehensive  history  of  the  canal  question.  The  Hepburn  report  of 
December  19  is  House  Report  15 ;  the  Morgan  report  of  March  13  is  Senate 
Report  783.  The  Senate  hearings  on  the  House  bill  form  Senate  Doc.  253. 
Senate  Report  1337  and  Senate  Doc.  5,  56th  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  are  also  valuable. 
On  the  general  subject  see  W.  F.  Johnson,  Four  Centuries  of  the  Canal 
(1906). 

An  Act  To  provide  for  the  construction  of  a  canal  connecting  the  waters 
of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans. 

Be  it  enacted,  .  .  .  That  the  President  of  the  United  States 
is  hereby  authorized  to  acquire,  for  and  on  behalf  of  the  United 
States,  at  a  cost  not  exceeding  forty  millions  of  dollars,  the 
rights,  privileges,  franchises,  concessions,  grants  of  land,  right 
of  way,  unfinished  work,  plants,  and  other  property,  real, 
personal,  and  mixed,  of  every  name  and  nature,  owned  by  the 
New  Panama  Canal  Company,  of  France,  on  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama,  and  all  its  maps,  plans,  drawings,  records  on  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama  and  in  Paris,  including  all  the  capital 
stock,  not  less,  however,  than  sixty-eight  thousand  eight  hun 
dred  and  sixty-three  shares  of  the  Panama  Railroad  Company, 
owned  by  or  held  for  the  use  of  said  canal  company,  provided 
a  satisfactory  title  to  all  of  said  property  can  be  obtained. 

SEC.  2.  That  the  President  is  hereby  authorized  to  acquire 
from  the  Republic  of  Colombia,  for  and  on  behalf  of  the  United 
States,  upon  such  terms  as  he  may  deem  reasonable,  perpetual 
control  of  a  strip  of  land,  the  territory  of  the  Republic  of  Colom 
bia,  not  less  than  six  miles  in  width,  extending  from  the  Carib 
bean  Sea  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  the  right  to  use  and  dispose 
of  the  waters  thereon,  and  to  excavate,  construct,  and  to  per 
petually  maintain,  operate,  and  protect  thereon  a  canal,  of  such 
depth  and  capacity  as  will  afford  convenient  passage  of  ships 


620  CONSTRUCTION  OF  AN  ISTHMIAN  CANAL    [June  28 

of  the  greatest  tonnage  and  draft  now  in  use,  from  the  Carib 
bean  Sea  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  which  control  shall  include  the 
right  to  perpetually  maintain  and  operate  the  Panama  Rail 
road,  if  the  ownership  thereof,  or  a  controlling  interest  therein, 
shall  have  been  acquired  by  the  United  States,  and  also  juris 
diction  over  said  strip  and  the  ports  at  the  ends  thereof  to  make 
such  police  and  sanitary  rules  and  regulations  as  shall  be  neces 
sary  to  preserve  order  and  preserve  the  public  health  thereon, 
and  to  establish  such  judicial  tribunals  as  may  be  agreed  upon 
thereon  as  may  be  necessary  to  enforce  such  rules  and  regu 
lations. 

The  President  may  acquire  such  additional  territory  and 
rights  from  Colombia  as  in  his  judgment  will  facilitate  the  gen 
eral  purpose  hereof. 

SEC.  3.  That  when  the  President  shall  have  arranged  to 
secure  a  satisfactory  title  to  the  property  of  the  New  Panama 
Canal  Company,  as  provided  in  section  one  hereof,  and  shall 
have  obtained  by  treaty  control  of  the  necessary  territory 
from  the  Republic  of  Colombia,  as  provided  in  section  two 
hereof,  he  is  authorized  to  pay  for  the  property  of  the  New  Pan 
ama  Canal  Company  forty  millions  of  dollars  and  to  the  Republic 
of  Colombia  such  sum  as  shall  have  been  agreed  upon  .  .  . 

The  President  shall  then  through  the  Isthmian  Canal 
Commission  hereinafter  authorized  cause  to  be  excavated, 
constructed,  and  completed,  utilizing  to  that  end  as  far  as  prac 
ticable  the  work  heretofore  done  by  the  New  Panama  Canal 
Company,  of  France,  and  its  predecessor  company,  a  ship  canal 
from  the  Caribbean  Sea  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Such  canal  shall 
be  of  sufficient  capacity  and  depth  as  shall  afford  convenient 
passage  for  vessels  of  the  largest  tonnage  and  greatest  draft 
now  in  use,  and  such  as  may  be  reasonably  anticipated,  and 
shall  be  supplied  with  all  necessary  locks  and  other  appliances 
to  meet  the  necessities  of  vessels  passing  through  the  same 
from  ocean  to  ocean ;  and  he  shall  also  cause  to  be  constructed 
such  safe  and  commodious  harbors  at  the  termini  of  said  canal, 
and  make  such  provisions  for  defense  as  may  be  necessary  for 
the  safety  and  protection  of  said  canal  and  harbors.  .  .  . 

SEC.  4.  That  should  the  President  be  unable  to  obtain  for 
the  United  States  a  satisfactory  title  to  the  property  of  the 


IQ02]          CONSTRUCTION  OF  AN  ISTHMIAN  CANAL  621 

New  Panama  Canal  Company  and  the  control  of  the  necessary 
territory  of  the  Republic  of  Colombia  and  the  rights  mentioned 
in  sections  one  and  two  of  this  Act,  within  a  reasonable  time 
and  upon  reasonable  terms,  then  the  President,  having  first 
obtained  for  the  United  States  perpetual  control  by  treaty  of 
the  necessary  territory  from  Costa  Rica  and  Nicaragua,  upon 
terms  which  he  may  consider  reasonable,  for  the  construction, 
perpetual  maintenance,  operation,  and  protection  of  a  canal 
connecting  the  Caribbean  Sea  with  the  Pacific  Ocean  by  what 
is  commonly  known  as  the  Nicaragua  route,  shall  through  the 
said  Isthmian  Canal  Commission  cause  to  be  excavated  and 
constructed  a  ship  canal  and  waterway  from  a  point  on  the 
shore  of  the  Caribbean  Sea  near  Grey  town,  by  way  of  Lake 

Nicaragua,  to  a  point  near  Brito  on  the  Pacific  Ocean  .  .  . 

******** 

In  the  excavation  and  construction  of  said  canal  the  San 
Juan  River  and  Lake  Nicaragua,  or  such  parts  of  each  as  may 
be  made  available,  shall  be  used. 

SEC.  5.  That  the  sum  of  ten  million  dollars  is  hereby  appro 
priated,  out  of  any  money  in  the  Treasury  not  otherwise  appro 
priated,  toward  the  project  herein  contemplated  by  either  route 
so  selected. 

And  the  President  is  hereby  authorized  to  cause  to  be  entered 
into  such  contract  or  contracts  as  may  be  deemed  necessary 
for  the  proper  excavation,  construction,  completion,  and  defense 
of  said  canal,  harbors,  and  defenses,  by  the  route  finally  deter 
mined  upon  under  the  provisions  of  this  Act.  Appropriations 
therefor  shall  from  time  to  time  be  hereafter  made,  not  to  exceed 
in  the  aggregate  the  additional  sum  of  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
five  millions  of  dollars  should  the  Panama  route  be  adopted, 
or  one  hundred  and  eighty  millions  of  dollars  should  the  Nica 
ragua  route  be  adopted. 

SEC.  6.  That  in  any  agreement  with  the  Republic  of  Colom 
bia,  or  with  the  States  of  Nicaragua  and  Costa  Rica,  the  Presi 
dent  is  authorized  to  guarantee  to  said  Republic  or  to  said 
States  the  use  of  said  canal  and  harbors,  upon  such  terms  as 
may  be  agreed  upon,  for  all  vessels  owned  by  said  States  or  by 
citizens  thereof. 

SEC.  7.     That  to  enable  the  President  to  construct  the  canal 


622  CONSTRUCTION  OF  AN  ISTHMIAN  CANAL     [June  28 

and  works  appurtenant  thereto  as  provided  in  this  Act,  there  is 
hereby  created  the  Isthmian  Canal  Commission,  the  same  to 
be  composed  of  seven  members,  who  shall  be  nominated  and 
appointed  by  the  President,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent 
of  the  Senate,  and  who  shall  serve  until  the  completion  of  said 
canal  unless  sooner  removed  by  the  President.  ...  Of  the 
seven  members  of  said  Commission  at  least  four  of  them  shall 
be  persons  learned  and  skilled  in  the  science  of  engineering, 
and  of  the  four  at  least  one  shall  be  an  officer  of  the  United 
States  Army,  and  at  least  one  other  shall  be  an  officer  of  the 
United  States  Navy,  the  said  officers  respectively  being  either 
upon  the  active  or  the  retired  list  of  the  Army  or  of  the  Navy. 
...  In  addition  to  the  members  of  said  Isthmian  Canal  Com 
mission,  the  President  is  hereby  authorized  through  said  Com 
mission  to  employ  in  said  service  any  of  the  engineers  of  the 
United  States  Army  at  his  discretion,  and  likewise  to  employ 
any  engineers  in  civil  life,  at  his  discretion,  and  any  other  per 
sons  necessary  for  the  proper  and  expeditious  prosecution  of 
said  work.  .  .  .  Said  Commission  shall  in  all  matters  be  sub 
ject  to  the  direction  and  control  of  the  President,  and  shall 
make  to  the  President  annually  and  at  such  other  periods  as 
may  be  required,  either  by  law  or  by  the  order  of  the  President, 
full  and  complete  reports  of  all  their  actings  and  doings  and  of 
all  moneys  received  and  expended  in  the  construction  of  said 
work  and  in  the  performance  of  their  duties  in  connection  there 
with,  which  said  reports  shall  be  by  the  President  transmitted 
to  Congress.  And  the  said  Commission  shall  furthermore  give 
to  Congress,  or  either  House  of  Congress,  such  information  as 
may  at  any  time  be  required  either  by  Act  of  Congress  or  by 
the  order  of  either  House  of  Congress.  .  .  . 

[Sec.  8  authorizes  a  bond  issue  of  $130,000,000  to  defray 
expenses.] 

Approved,  June  28,  1902. 


1903]  PANAMA    CANAL  TREATY  623 

No.  192.     Panama  Canal  Treaty 

November  18,  1903 

THE  rejection  by  the  Senate  of  the  Colombian  Congress,  August  12,  1903, 
of  the  Hay-Herran  convention  of  January  22  for  the  lease  of  a  strip  of  terri 
tory  six  miles  wide  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  was  followed,  in  the  first 
week  of  November,  by  a  revolution  at  Colon,  the  recognition  of  the  de  facto 
government,  and  the  reception  by  President  Roosevelt  of  Bunau-Varilla, 
the  minister  of  the  new  Republic  of  Panama.  The  treaty  of  November  18 
was  ratified  by  Panama  December  2,  and  by  President  Roosevelt  February 
25,  1904,  and  the  next  day  was  proclaimed.  An  act  of  April  28  vested  in  the 
President  powers  of  temporary  government  in  the  Canal  Zone.  An  act 
of  August  24,  1912,  provided  a  permanent  form  of  government  and  exempted 
American  coastwise  vessels  from  the  payment  of  tolls;  but  by  an  act  of 
June  15,  1914,  tolls  of  not  less  than  75  cents  nor  more  than  $1.25  per  regis 
tered  ton  were  authorized,  subject  to  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  of  Novem 
ber  18,  1903,  with  Panama,  and  without  waiver  of  the  rights  of  the  United 
States,  under  the  treaty  of  November  18,  1901,  with  Great  Britain  (No.  189) 
or  tne  treaty  of  1903,  with  Panama,  to  discriminate  in  favor  of  its  own  citi 
zens  in  the  matter  of  tolls,  or  respecting  its  sovereignty  over  or  control  of 
the  canal. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  XXXIII.,  Part  I,  2234-2241. 
On  the  course  of  the  United  States  in  the  acquisition  of  the  Canal  Zone 
see  Latane,  America  as  a  World  Power,  ch.  12,  and  references  there  cited. 

ARTICLE  I. 

The  United  States  guarantees  and  will  maintain  the  inde 
pendence  of  the  Republic  of  Panama. 

ARTICLE  II. 

The  Republic  of  Panama  grants  to  the  United  States  in  per 
petuity  the  use,  occupation  and  control  of  a  zone  of  land  and 
land  under  water  for  the  construction,  maintenance,  operation, 
sanitation  and  protection  of  said  Canal  of  the  width  of  ten 
miles  extending  to  the  distance  of  five  miles  on  each  side  of 
the  center  line  of  the  route  of  the  Canal  to  be  constructed; 
the  said  zone  beginning  in  the  Caribbean  Sea  three  marine 
miles  from  mean  low  water  mark  and  extending  to  and  across 
the  Isthmus  of  Panama  into  the  Pacific  ocean  to  a  distance  of 
three  marine  miles  from  mean  low  water  mark  with  the  proviso 


624  PANAMA   CANAL  TREATY  [November  18 

that  the  cities  of  Panama  and  Colon  and  the  harbors  adjacent 
to  said  cities,  which  are  included  within  the  boundaries  of  the 
zone  above  described,  shall  not  be  included  within  this  grant.1 
The  Republic  of  Panama  further  grants  to  the  United  States 
in  perpetuity  the  use,  occupation  and  control  of  any  other 
lands  and  waters  outside  of  the  zone  above  described  which 
may  be  necessary  and  convenient  for  the  construction,  main 
tenance,  operation,  sanitation  and  protection  of  the  said  Canal 
or  of  any  auxiliary  canals  or  other  works  necessary  and  con 
venient  for  the  construction,  maintenance,  operation,  sanita 
tion  and  protection  of  the  said  enterprise. 

The  Republic  of  Panama  further  grants  in  like  manner  to 
the  United  States  in  perpetuity  all  islands  within  the  limits  of 
the  zone  above  described  and  in  addition  thereto  the  group  of 
small  islands  in  the  Bay  of  Panama,  named  Perico,  Naos, 
Culebra  and  Flamenco. 

ARTICLE  III. 

The  Republic  of  Panama  grants  to  the  United  States  all  the 
rights,  power  and  authority  within  the  zone  mentioned  and 
described  in  Article  II  of  this  agreement  and  within  the  limits 
of  all  auxiliary  lands  and  waters  mentioned  and  described  in 
said  Article  II  which  the  United  States  would  possess  and  exer 
cise  if  it  were  the  sovereign  of  the  territory  within  which  said 
lands  and  waters  are  located  to  the  entire  exclusion  of  the  exer 
cise  by  the  Republic  of  Panama  of  any  such  sovereign  rights, 
power  or  authority. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

As  rights  subsidiary  to  the  above  grants  the  Republic  of 
Panama  grants  in  perpetuity  to  the  United  States  the  right  to 
use  the  rivers,  streams,  lakes  and  other  bodies  of  water  within 
its  limits  for  navigation,  the  supply  of  water  or  water-power 
or  other  purposes,  so  far  as  the  use  of  said  rivers,  streams,  lakes 
and  bodies  of  water  and  the  waters  thereof  may  be  necessary 
and  convenient  for  the  construction,  maintenance,  operation, 
sanitation  and  protection  of  the  said  Canal. 

.  !  A  treaty  with  Panama  defining  the  boundary  of  the  Canal  Zone  was  concluded 
September  2,  1814  (U.  S.  Stat.  at  Lasge,  XXXVIII.,  Part  2,  1893-1907). 


.903]  PANAMA   CANAL  TREATY  625 

ARTICLE  V. 

The  Republic  of  Panama  grants  to  the  United  States  in  per 
petuity  a  monopoly  for  the  construction,  maintenance  and 
operation  of  any  system  of  communication  by  means  of  canal 
or  railroad  across  its  territory  between  the  Caribbean  Sea  and 
the  Pacific  ocean. 

ARTICLE  VI. 

[Existing  private  rights  not  invalidated.  Damages  to  be 
appraised  by  a  joint  commission,  and  awards  to  be  paid  by  the 
United  States.] 

ARTICLE  VII. 

The  Republic  of  Panama  grants  to  the  United  States  within 
the  limits  of  the  cities  of  Panama  and  Colon  and  their  adjacent 
harbors  and  within  the  territory  adjacent  thereto  the  right  to 
acquire  by  purchase  or  by  the  exercise  of  the  right  of  eminent 
domain,  any  lands,  buildings,  water  rights  or  other  properties 
necessary  and  convenient  for  the  construction,  maintenance, 
operation  and  protection  of  the  Canal  and  of  any  works  of 
sanitation,  such  as  the  collection  and  disposition  of  sewage 
and  the  distribution  of  water  in  the  said  cities  of  Panama  and 
Colon,  which,  in  the  discretion  of  the  United  States  may  be 
necessary  and  convenient  for  the  construction,  maintenance, 
operation,  sanitation  and  protection  of  the  said  Canal  and  rail 
road.  All  such  works  of  sanitation,  collection  and  disposition  of 
sewage  and  distribution  of  water  in  the  cities  of  Panama  and 
Colon  shall  be  made  at  the  expense  of  the  United  States,  and 
the  Government  of  the  United  States,  its  agents  or  nominees 
shall  be  authorized  to  impose  and  collect  water  rates  and  sewer 
age  rates  which  shall  be  sufficient  to  provide  for  the  payment 
of  interest  and  the  amortization  of  the  principal  of  the  cost  of 
said  works  within  a  period  of  fifty  years  and  upon  the  expiration 
of  said  term  of  fifty  years  the  system  of  sewers  and  water  works 
shall  revert  to  and  become  the  properties  of  the  cities  of  Panama 
and  Colon  respectively,  and  the  use  of  the  water  shall  be  free 
to  the  inhabitants  of  Panama  and  Colon,  except  to  the  extent 


626  PANAMA   CANAL  TREATY  [November  18 

that  water  rates  may  be  necessary  for  the  operation  and  main 
tenance  of  said  system  of  sewers  and  water. 

The  Republic  of  Panama  agrees  that  the  cities  of  Panama 
and  Colon  shall  comply  in  perpetuity  with  the  sanitary  ordi 
nances  whether  of  a  preventive  or  curative  character  prescribed 
by  the  United  States  and  in  case  the  Government  of  Panama  is 
unable  or  fails  in  its  duty  to  enforce  this  compliance  by  the 
cities  of  Panama  and  Colon  with  the  sanitary  ordinances  of  the 
United  States  the  Republic  of  Panama  grants  to  the  United 
States  the  right  and  authority  to  enforce  the  same. 

The  same  right  and  authority  are  granted  to  the  United  States 
for  the  maintenance  of  public  order  in  the  cities  of  Panama 
and  Colon  and  the  territories  and  harbors  adjacent  thereto 
in  case  the  Republic  of  Panama  should  not  be,  in  the  judgment 
of  the  United  States,  able  to  maintain  such  order. 

ARTICLE  VIII. 

The  Republic  of  Panama  grants  to  the  United  States  all 
rights  which  it  now  has  or  hereafter  may  acquire  to  the  property 
of  the  New  Panama  Canal  Company  and  the  Panama  Rail 
road  Company  as  a  result  of  the  transfer  of  sovereignty  from 
the  Republic  of  Colombia  to  the  Republic  of  Panama  over  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama  and  authorizes  the  New  Panama  Canal 
Company  to  sell  and  transfer  to  the  United  States  its  rights, 
privileges,  properties  and  concessions  as  well  as  the  Panama 
Railroad  and  all  the  shares  or  part  of  the  shares  of  that  com 
pany  ;  but  the  public  lands  situated  outside  of  the  zone  described 
in  Article  II  of  this  treaty  now  included  in  the  concessions  to  both 
said  enterprises  and  not  required  in  the  construction  or  opera 
tion  of  the  Canal  shall  revert  to  the  Republic  of  Panama  except 
any  property  now  owned  by  or  in  the  possession  of  said  com 
panies  within  Panama  or  Colon  or  the  ports  or  terminals  thereof. 

ARTICLE  IX. 

The  United  States  agrees  that  the  ports  at  either  entrance 
of  the  Canal  and  the  waters  thereof,  and  the  Republic  of  Panama 
agrees  that  the  towns  of  Panama  and  Colon  shall  be  free  fot 


I9o3]  PANAMA   CANAL  TREATY  627 

all  time  so  that  there  shall  not  be  imposed  or  collected  custom 
house  tolls,  tonnage,  anchorage,  lighthouse,  wharf,  pilot,  or 
quarantine  dues  or  any  other  charges  or  taxes  of  any  kind 
upon  any  vessel  using  or  passing  through  the  Canal  or  belonging 
to  or  employed  by  the  United  States,  directly  or  indirectly, 
in  connection  with  the  construction,  maintenance,  operation, 
sanitation  and  protection  of  the  main  Canal,  or  auxiliary  works, 
or  upon  the  cargo,  officers,  crew,  or  passengers  of  any  such 
vessels,  except  such  tolls  and  charges  as  may  be  imposed  by 
the  United  States  for  the  use  of  the  Canal  and  other  works, 
and  except  tolls  and  charges  imposed  by  the  Republic  of  Panama 
upon  merchandise  destined  to  be  introduced  for  the  consumption 
of  the  rest  of  the  Republic  of  Panama,  and  upon  vessels  touch 
ing  at  the  ports  of  Colon  and  Panama  and  which  do  not  cross 
the  Canal.  .  . 

ARTICLE  X. 

The  Republic  of  Panama  agrees  that  there  shall  not  be  im 
posed  any  taxes,  national,  municipal,  departmental,  or  of  any 
other  class,  upon  the  Canal,  the  railways  and  auxiliary  works, 
tugs  and  other  vessels  employed  in  the  service  of  the  Canal, 
store  houses,  work  shops,  offices,  quarters  for  laborers,  factories 
of  all  kinds,  warehouses,  wharves,  machinery  and  other  works, 
property,  and  effects  appertaining  to  the  Canal  or  railroad  and 
auxiliary  works,  or  their  officers  or  employees,  situated  within 
the  cities  of  Panama  and  Colon,  and  that  there  shall  not  be 
imposed  contributions  or  charges  of  a  personal  character  of  any 
kind  upon  officers,  employees,  laborers,  and  other  individuals 
in  the  service  of  the  Canal  and  railroad  and  auxiliary  works. 


ARTICLE  XI. 

The  United  States  agrees  that  the  official  dispatches  of  the 
Government  of  the  Republic  of  Panama  shall  be  transmitted 
over  any  telegraph  and  telephone  lines  established  for  canal 
purposes  and  used  for  public  and  private  business  at  rates  not 
higher  than  those  required  from  officials  in  the  service  of  the 
United  States. 


628  PANAMA   CANAL  TREATY  [November  18 

ARTICLE  XII. 

The  Government  of  the  Republic  of  Panama  shall  permit 
the  immigration  and  free  access  to  the  lands  and  workshops 
of  the  Canal  and  its  auxiliary  works  of  all  employees  and  work 
men  of  whatever  nationality  under  contract  to  work  upon  or 
seeking  employment  upon  or  in  any  wise  connected  with  the 
said  Canal  and  its  auxiliary  works,  with  their  respective  families, 
and  all  such  persons  shall  be  free  and  exempt  from  the  military 
service  of  the  Republic  of  Panama. 

ARTICLE  XIII. 

The  United  States  may  import  at  any  time  into  the  said 
zone  and  auxiliary  lands,  free  of  custom  duties,  imposts,  taxes, 
or  other  charges,  and  without  any  restrictions,  any  and  all 
vessels,  dredges,  engines,  cars,  machinery,  tools,  explosives, 
materials,  supplies,  and  other  articles  necessary  and  convenient 
in  the  construction,  maintenance,  operation,  sanitation  and 
protection  of  the  Canal  and  auxiliary  works,  and  all  provisions, 
medicines,  clothing,  supplies  and  other  things  necessary  and 
convenient  for  the  officers,  employees,  workmen  and  laborers 
in  the  service  and  employ  of  the  United  States  and  for  their 
families. 

ARTICLE  XIV. 

As  the  price  or  compensation  for  the  rights,  powers  and 
privileges  granted  in  this  convention  by  the  Republic  of  Panama 
to  the  United  States,  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
agrees  to  pay  to  the  Republic  of  Panama  the  sum  of  ten  million 
dollars  ($10,000,000)  in  gold  coin  of  the  United  States  on  the 
exchange  of  the  ratification  of  this  convention  and  also  an 
annual  payment  during  the  life  of  this  convention  of  two  hun 
dred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  ($250,000)  in  like  gold  coin, 
beginning  nine  years  after  the  date  aforesaid. 

The  provisions  of  this  Article  shall  be  in  addition  to  all  other 
benefits  assured  to  the  Republic  of  Panama  under  this  con 
vention.  .  .  . 

******** 


1903]  PANAMA  CANAL  TREATY  629 

ARTICLE  XVI. 

The  two  Governments  shall  make  adequate  provision  by 
future  agreement  for  the  pursuit,  capture,  imprisonment,  deten 
tion  and  delivery  within  said  zone  and  auxiliary  lands  to  the 
•authorities  of  the  Republic  of  Panama  of  persons  charged  with 
the  commitment  of  crimes,  felonies  or  misdemeanors  without 
said  zone  and  for  the  pursuit,  capture,  imprisonment,  detention 
and  delivery  without  said  zone  to  the  authorities  of  the  United 
States  of  persons  charged  with  the  commitment  of  crimes, 

felonies  and  misdemeanors  within  said  zone  and  auxiliary  lands. 
*         *         *         *         #          *         *          ** 

ARTICLE  XVIII. 

The  Canal,  when  constructed,  and  the  entrances  thereto 
shall  be  neutral  in  perpetuity,  and  shall  be  opened  upon  the 
terms  provided  for  by  Section  i  of  Article  three  of,  and  in  con 
formity  with  all  the  stipulations  of,  the  treaty  entered  into  by 
the  Governments  of  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  on 
November  18,  1901. 

ARTICLE  XIX. 

The  Government  of  the  Republic  of  Panama  shall  have  the 
right  to  transport  over  the  Canal  its  vessels  and  its  troops  and 
munitions  of  war  in  such  vessels  at  all  times  without  paying 
charges  of  any  kind.  The  exemption  is  to  be  extended  to  the 
auxiliary  railway  for  the  transportation  of  persons  in  the  service 
of  the  Republic  of  Panama,  or  of  the  police  force  charged  with 
the  preservation  of  public  order  outside  of  said  zone,  as  well  as 
to  their  baggage,  munitions  of  war  and  supplies. 

ARTICLE  XX.  . 

If  by  virtue  of  any  existing  treaty  in  relation  to  the  territory 
of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  whereof  the  obligations  shall  descend 
or  be  assumed  by  the  Republic  of  Panama,  there  may  be  any 
privilege  or  concession  in  favor  of  the  Government  or  the  citi 
zens  and  subjects  of  a  third  power  relative  to  an  interoceanic 
means  of  communication  which  in  any  of  its  terms  may  be 


630  NATURALIZATION  ACT  [June  29 

incompatible  with  the  terms  of  the  present  convention,   the 
Republic  of  Panama  agrees  to  cancel  or  modify  such  treaty 

in  due  form  .... 

******** 

ARTICLE  XXII. 

[Rights  in  prior  concessions  to  be  transferred  to  the  United 

States.] 

******** 


No.  193.     Naturalization  Act 

June  29,  1906 

UNTIL  the  passage  of  the  act  of  1906,  naturalization  was  in  the  main  regu 
lated  by  an  act  of  1802.  The  report  of  a  Commission  on  Naturalization 
appointed  by  President  Roosevelt  March  i,  1905,  transmitted  to  Congress 
December  5,  was  followed  by  the  introduction  of  a  number  of  bills  relating 
to  the  subject  in  both  houses.  A  bill  with  the  same  title  as  that  of  the  act 
below,  introduced  in  the  House,  February  22,  1906,  by  Benjamin  F.  Howell 
of  New  Jersey,  passed  with  amendments,  without  division,  June  5.  An 
amended  form  of  the  bill  passed  the  Senate  without  division  June  27.  The 
House  disagreed  to  the  Senate  amendments,  and  the  final  form  of  the  bill 
was  given  by  a  conference  committee.  Only  the  most  important  substantive 
provisions  of  the  act  are  given  here. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  XXXIV.,  Part  i,  596-607. 
For  the  debates  see  the  Cong.  Record,  59th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.  See  also  House 
Report  1789,  Senate  Report  4373,  and  the  Report  of  the  Commission  on  Nat 
uralization. 

An  Act  To  establish  a  Bureau  of  Immigration  and  Naturalization,  and  to 
provide  for  a  uniform  rule  for  the  naturalization  of  aliens  throughout 
the  United  States. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  the  designation  of  the  Bureau  of 
Immigration  in  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor  is 
hereby  changed  to  the  "Bureau  of  Immigration  and  Naturaliza 
tion,"  which  said  Bureau,  under  the  direction  and  control  of 
the  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  in  addition  to  the  duties 
now  provided  by  law,  shall  have  charge  of  all  matters  concern 
ing  the  naturalization  of  aliens.  .  .  . 

******** 


1906]  NATURALIZATION  ACT  631 

SEC.  3.  That  exclusive  jurisdiction  to  naturalize  aliens  as 
citizens  of  the  United  States  is  hereby  conferred  upon  the  fol 
lowing  specified  courts : 

United  States  circuit  and  district  courts  now  existing,  or 
which  may  hereafter  be  established  by  Congress  in  any  State, 
United  States  district  courts  for  the  Territories  of  Arizona, 
New  Mexico,  Oklahoma,  Hawaii,  and  Alaska,  the  supreme 
court  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  the  United  States  courts 
for  the  Indian  Territory ;  also  all  courts  of  record  in  any  State 
or  Territory  now  existing,  or  which  may  hereafter  be  created, 
having  a  seal,  a  clerk,  and  jurisdiction  in  actions  at  law  or  equity, 
or  law  and  equity,  in  which  the  amount  in  controversy  is  un 
limited.  .  .  . 

SEC.  4.  That  an  alien  may  be  admitted  to  become  a  citizen 
of  the  United  States  in  the  following  manner  and  not  otherwise  : 

First.  He  shall  declare  on  oath  before  the  clerk  of  any  court 
authorized  by  this  Act  to  naturalize  aliens,  or  his  authorized 
deputy,  in  the  district  in  which  such  alien  resides,  two  years 
at  least  prior  to  his  admission,  and  after  he  has  reached  the 
age  of  eighteen  years,  that  it  is  bona  fide  his  intention  to  become 
a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  to  renounce  forever  all 
allegiance  and  fidelity  to  any  foreign  prince,  potentate,  state, 
or  sovereignty,  and  particularly,  by  name,  to  the  prince,  poten 
tate,  state,  or  sovereignty  of  which  the  alien  may  be  at  the  time 
a  citizen  or  subject.  .  .  . 

Second.  Not  less  than  two  years  nor  more  than  seven  years 
after  he  has  made  such  declaration  of  intention  he  shall  make 
and  file,  in  duplicate,  a  petition  in  writing,  signed  by  the  appli 
cant  in  his  own  hand-writing  and  duly  verified,  in  which  peti 
tion  such  applicant  shall  state  his  full  name,  his  place  of  resi 
dence  (by  street  and  number,  if  possible),  his  occupation,  and, 
if  possible,  the  date  and  place  of  his  birth ;  the  place  from  which 
he  emigrated,  and  the  date  and  place  of  his  arrival  in  the  United 
States,  and,  if  he  entered  through  a  port,  the  name  of  the  vessel 
on  which  he  arrived ;  the  time  when  and  the  place  and  name 
of  the  court  where  he  declared  his  intention  to  become  a  citizen 
of  the  United  States ;  if  he  is  married  he  shall  state  the  name  of 
his  wife  and,  if  possible,  the  country  of  her  nativity  and  her 
place  of  residence  at  the  time  of  filing  his  petition ;  and  if  he 


632  NATURALIZATION   ACT  [June  29 

has  children,  the  name,  date,  and  place  of  birth  and  place  of 
residence  of  each  child  living  at  the  time  of  the  filing  of  his 
petition  .... 

The  petition  shall  set  forth  that  he  is  not  a  disbeliever  in  or 
opposed  to  organized  government,  or  a  member  of  or  affiliated 
with  any  organization  or  body  of  persons  teaching  disbelief 
in  or  opposed  to  organized  government,  a  polygamist  or  believer 
in  the  practice  of  polygamy,  and  that  it  is  his  intention  to  be 
come  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  and  to  renounce  absolutely 
and  forever  all  allegiance  and  fidelity  to  any  foreign  prince, 
potentate,  state,  or  sovereignty,  and  particularly  by  name  to 
the  prince,  potentate,  state,  or  sovereignty  of  which  he  at  the 
time  of  filing  of  his  petition  may  be  a  citizen  or  subject,  and 
that  it  is  his  intention  to  reside  permanently  within  the  United 
States,  and  whether  or  not  he  has  been  denied  admission  as  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  and,  if  denied,  the  ground  or 
grounds  of  such  denial,  the  court  or  courts  in  which  such  decision 
was  rendered,  and  that  the  cause  for  such  denial  has  since  been 
cured  or  removed,  and  every  fact  material  to  his  naturalization 
and  required  to  be  proved  upon  the  final  hearing  of  his  appli 
cation. 

The  petition  shall  also  be  verified  by  the  affidavits  of  at  least 
two  credible  witnesses,  who  are  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
and  who  shall  state  in  their  affidavits  that  they  have  personally 
known  the  applicant  to  be  a  resident  of  the  United  States  for  a 
period  of  at  least  five  years  continuously,  and  of  the  State, 
Territory,  or  district  in  which  the  application  is  made  for  a 
period  of  at  least  one  year  immediately  preceding  the  date  of 
the  filing  of  his  petition,  and  that  they  each  have  personal 
knowledge  that  the  petitioner  is  a  person  of  good  moral  char 
acter,  and  that  he  is  in  every  way  qualified,  in  their  opinion, 
to  be  admitted  as  a  citizen  of  the  United  States.  .  .  . 

Third.  He  shall,  before  he  is  admitted  to  citizenship,  declare 
on  oath  in  open  court  that  he  will  support  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  and  that  he  absolutely  and  entirely  renounces 
and  abjures  all  allegiance  and  fidelity  to  any  foreign  prince, 
potentate, '  state,  or  sovereignty,  and  particularly  by  name  to 
the  prince,  potentate,  state,  or  sovereignty  of  which  he  was 
before  a  citizen  or  subject ;  that  he  will  support  and  defend  the 


i9o6]  NATURALIZATION  ACT  633 

Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States  against  all  enemies, 
foreign  and  domestic,  and  bear  true  faith  and  allegiance  to  the 
same. 

Fourth.  It  shall  be  made  to  appear  to  the  satisfaction  of 
the  court  admitting  any  alien  to  citizenship  that  immediately 
preceding  the  date  of  his  application  he  has  resided  continu 
ously  within  the  United  States  five  years  at  least,  and  within 
the  State  or  Territory  where  such  court  is  at  the  time  held  one 
year  at  least,  and  that  during  that  time  he  has  behaved  as  a 
man  of  good  moral  character,  attached  to  the  principles  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  well  disposed  to  the 
good  order  and  happiness  of  the  same.  In  addition  to  the 
oath  of  the  applicant,  the  testimony  of  at  least  two  witnesses, 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  as  to  the  facts  of  residence,  moral 
character,  and  attachment  to  the  principles  of  the  Constitution 
shall  be  required,  and  the  name,  place  of .  residence,  and  occu 
pation  of  each  witness  shall  be  set  forth  in  the  record. 

Fifth.  In  case  the  alien  applying  to  be  admitted  to  citizenship 
has  borne  any  hereditary  title,  or  has  been  of  any  of  the  orders 
of  nobility  in  the  kingdom  or  state  from  which  he  came,  he  shall, 
in  addition  to  the  above  requisites,  make  an  express  renunciation 
of  his  title  or  order  of  nobility  in  the  court  to  which  his  applica 
tion  is  made,  and  his  renunciation  shall  be  recorded  in  the  court. 

Sixth.  When  any  alien  who  has  declared  his  intention  to 
become  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  dies  before  he  is  actually 
naturalized  the  widow  and  minor  children  of  such  alien  may, 
by  complying  with  the  other  provisions  of  this  Act,  be  natural 
ized  without  making  any  declaration  of  intention. 

SEC.  5.     [Public  notice  of  petition,  etc.,  to  be  given.] 

SEC.  6.  That  petitions  for  naturalization  may  be  made 
and  filed  during  term  time  or  vacation  of  the  court  and  shall 
be  docketed  the  same  day  as  filed,  but  final  action  thereon  shall 
be  had  only  on  stated  days,  to  be  fixed  by  rule  of  the  court, 
and  in  no  case  shall  final  action  be  had  upon  a  petition  until 
at  least  ninety  days  have  elapsed  after  filing  and  posting  the 
notice  of  such  petition  :  Provided,  That  no  person  shall  be  nat 
uralized  nor  shall  any  certificate  of  naturalization  be  issued 
by  any  court  within  thirty  days  preceding  the  holding  of  any 
general  election  within  its  territorial  jurisdiction.  .  .  . 


634  NATURALIZATION  ACT  [June  29 

SEC.  7.  That  no  person  who  disbelieves  in  or  who  is  opposed 
to  organized  government,  or  who  is  a  member  of  or  affiliated 
with  any  organization  entertaining  and  teaching  such  disbelief 
in  or  opposition  to  organized  government,  or  who  advocates 
or  teaches  the  duty,  necessity,  or  propriety  of  the  unlawful 
assaulting  or  killing  of  any  officer  or  officers,  either  of  specific 
individuals  or  of  officers  generally,  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  or  of  any  other  organized  government,  because 
of  his  or  their  official  character,  or  who  is  a  polygamist,  shall 
be  naturalized  or  be  made  a  citizen  of  the  United  States. 

SEC.  8.  That  no  alien  shall  hereafter  be  naturalized  or 
admitted  as  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  who  can  not  speak 
the  English  language:  Provided,  That  this  requirement  shall 
not  apply  to  aliens  who  are  physically  unable  to  comply  there 
with,  if  they  are  otherwise  qualified  to  become  citizens  of  the 
United  States :  And  provided  further,  That  the  requirements 
of  this  section  shall  not  apply  to  any  alien  who  has  prior  to  the 
passage  of  this  Act  declared  his  intention  to  become  a  citizen 
of  the  United  States  in  conformity  with  the  law  in  force  at  the 
date  of  making  such  declaration :  Provided  further,  That  the 
requirements  of  section  eight  shall  not  apply  to  aliens  who  shall 
hereafter  declare  their  intention  to  become  citizens  and  who 
shall  make  homestead  entries  upon  the  public  lands  of  the 
United  States  and  comply  in  all  respects  with  the  laws  provid 
ing  for  homestead  entries  on  such  lands. 

******** 

SEC.  15.  ...  If  any  alien  who  shall  have  secured  a  cer 
tificate  of  citizenship  under  the  provisions  of  this  Act  shall, 
within  five  years  after  the  issuance  of  such  certificate,  return 
to  the  country  of  his  nativity,  or  go  to  any  other  foreign  country, 
and  take  permanent  residence  therein,  it  shall  be  considered 
prima  facie  evidence  of  a  lack  of  intention  on  the  part  of  such 
alien  to  become  a  permanent  citizen  of  the  United  States  at 
the  time  of  filing  his  application  for  citizenship,  and,  in  the 
absence  of  countervailing  evidence,  it  shall  be  sufficient  in  the 
proper  proceeding  to  authorize  the  cancellation  of  his  certificate 
of  citizenship  as  fraudulent,  and  the  diplomatic  and  consular 
officers  of  the  United  States  in  foreign  countries  shall  from  time 
to  time,  through  the  Department  of  State,  furnish  the  Depart- 


1907]    CAMPAIGN  CONTRIBUTIONS  BY  CORPORATIONS     635 

ment  of  Justice  with  the  names  of  those  within  their  respective 
jurisdictions  who  have  such  certificates  of  citizenship  and  who 
have  taken  permanent  residence  in  the  country  of  their  nativity, 
or  in  any  other  foreign  country,  and  such  statements,  duly 
certified,  shall  be  admissible  in  evidence  in  all  courts  in  proceed 
ings  to  cancel  certificates  of  citizenship.  .  .  . 

******** 

SEC.  23.  That  any  person  who  knowingly  procures  naturali 
zation  in  violation  of  the  provisions  of  this  Act  shall  be  fined 
not  more  than  five  thousand  dollars,  or  shall  be  imprisoned  not 
more  than  five  years,  or  both,  and  upon  conviction  the  court 
in  which  such  conviction  is  had  shall  thereupon  adjudge  and 
declare  the  final  order  admitting  such  person  to  citizenship  void. 
Jurisdiction  is  hereby  conferred  on  the  courts  having  jurisdic 
tion  of  the  trial  of  such  offense  to  make  such  adjudication.  Any 
person  who  knowingly  aids,  advises,  or  encourages  any  person 
not  entitled  thereto  to  apply  for  or  to  secure  naturalization, 
or  to  file  the  preliminary  papers  declaring  an  intent  to  become  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  or  who  in  any  naturalization  pro 
ceeding  knowingly  procures  or  gives  false  testimony  as  to  any 
material  fact,  or  who  knowingly  makes  an  affidavit  false  as  to 
any  material  fact  required  to  be  proved  in  such  proceeding, 
shall  be  fined  not  more  than  five  thousand  dollars,  or  imprisoned 

not  more  than  five  years,  or  both. 

*         *         *          *         *          *          *          * 

Approved,  June  29,  1906. 


No.  194.     Prohibition  of  Campaign  Con 
tributions  by  Corporations 

January  26,  1907 

A  BILL  to  prohibit  money  contributions  by  corporations  in  connection 
with  political  elections,  said  to  be  identical  with  a  bill  introduced  in  1901 
by  William  E.  Chandler  of  New  Hampshire  but  not  acted  upon,  was  intro 
duced  in  the  Senate,  February  19,  1906,  by  Benjamin  R.  Tillman  of  South 
Carolina,  and  on  June  9  passed  without  a  division.  In  the  House  the  bill 
was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Election  of  President  and  Vice-President 


636  IMMIGRATION  ACT  [Febiuary  20 

and  Representatives  in  Congress,  but  ro  further  action  was  taken  during 
the  session.  January  15,  1907,  in  the  second  session,  the  bill  was  reported 
with  amendments,  and  on  the  2ist  passed  without  a  division  under  suspen 
sion  of  the  rules.  The  Senate  concurred  in  the  House  amendments,  and 
on  the  26th  the  act  was  approved.  An  act  of  June  25,  1910  (amended  Au 
gust  19,  1911,  and  August  23,  1912),  provided  for  publicity  of  political 
contributions  in  Congressional  elections. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Stdt.  at  Large,  XXXIV.,  Part  I,  864,  865. 
The  debate  was  unimportant.  See  Senate  Report  3056,  59th  Cong.,  ist 
Sess.,  and  House  Report  6397,  59th  Cong.,  2d  Sess. 

An  Act  To  prohibit  corporations  from  making  money  contributions  in  con 
nection  with  political  elections. 

Be  U  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  it  shall  be  unlawful  for  any  national 
bank,  or  any  corporation  organized  by  authority  of  any  laws 
of  Congress,  to  make  a  money  contribution  in  connection  with 
any  election  to  any  political  office.  It  shall  also  be  unlawful 
for  any  corporation  whatever  to  make  a  money  contribution 
in  connection  with  any  election  at  which  Presidential  and  Vice- 
Presidential  electors  or  a  Representative  in  Congress  is  to  be 
voted  for  or  any  election  by  any  State  legislature  of  a  United 
States  Senator.  Every  corporation  which  shall  make  any 
contribution  in  violation  of  the  foregoing  provisions  shall  be 
subject  to  a  fine  not  exceeding  five  thousand  dollars,  and  every 
officer  or  director  of  any  corporation  who  shall  consent  to  any 
contribution  by  the  corporation  in  violation  of  the  foregoing 
provisions  shall  upon  conviction  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not 
exceeding  one  thousand  and  not  less  than  two  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars,  or  by  imprisonment  for  a  term  of  not  more  than 
one  year,  or  both  such  fine  and  imprisonment  in  the  discretion 
of  the  court. 

Approved,  January  26,  1907. 


No.  195.     Immigration  Act 

February  20,  1907 

A  COMPREHENSIVE  act  to  regulate    immigration    was    passed    March    3, 
1903,  and  an  amendatory  act  March  22,  1904.     A  bill  further  to  regulate 


1907]  IMMIGRATION  ACT  637 

the  immigration  of  aliens,  introduced  in  the  Senate,  February  14,  1906,  by 
William  P.  Dillingham  of  Vermont,  was  reported  with  amendments  March 
29,  and  May  23  passed  without  a  division.  On  the  29th  the  bill  was  re 
ported  with  amendments  in  the  House,  and  June  5  was  recommitted.  It 
was  reported  back  on  the  nth,  and  on  the  25th  passed  without  a  division. 
The  Senate  disagreed  to  the  House  amendments,  and  the  bill  went  to  a 
conference  committee.  No  further  action  was  taken  during  the  session. 
At  the  next  session,  February  13,  1907,  the  report  of  the  conference  commit 
tee  was  submitted,  and  was  accepted  by  the  Senate  on  the  i6th  and  by  the 
House  on  the  igth.  The  next  day  the  act  was  approved.  Only  the  most 
important  substantive  provisions  of  the  act  are  given  here. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  XXXIV.,  Part  I,  898-911. 
For  the  debates  see  the  Cong.  Record,  59th  Cong.,  ist  and  2d  Sess.  See 
also  Senate  Report  2186  and  House  Reports  4558  and  4912,  59th  Cong., 
2d  Sess. 

An  Act  To  regulate  the  immigration  of  aliens  into  the  United  States. 

Be  U  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  there  shall  be  levied,  collected,  and 
paid  a  tax  of  four  dollars  for  every  alien  entering  the  United 
States.  The  said  tax  shall  be  paid  to  the  collector  of  customs 
of  the  port  or  customs  district  to  which  said  alien  shall  come, 
or,  if  there  be  no  collector  at  such  port  or  district,  then  to  the 
collector  nearest  thereto,  by  the  master,  agent,  owner,  or  con 
signee  of  the  vessel,  transportation  line,  or  other  conveyance 
or  vehicle  bringing  such  alien  to  the  United  States.  The 
money  thus  collected,  together  with  all  fines  and  rentals  col 
lected  under  the  laws  regulating  the  immigration  of  aliens  into 
the  United  States,  shall  be  paid  into  the  Treasury  of  the  United 
States,  and  shall  constitute  a  permanent  appropriation  to  be 
called  the  "  immigrant  fund;"  to  be  used  under  the  direction 
of  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor  to  defray  the  expense 
of  regulating  the  immigration  of  aliens  into  the  United  States 
under  said  laws,  including  the  contract  labor  laws,  the  cost  of 
reports  of  decisions  of  the  Federal  courts,  and  digest  thereof, 
for  the  use  of  the  Commissioner- General  of  Immigration,  and 
the  salaries  and  expenses  of  all  officers,  clerks,  and  employees 
appointed  to  enforce  said  laws.  The  tax  imposed  by  this 
section  shall  be  a  lien  upon  the  vessel,  or  other  vehicle  of  carriage 
or  transportation  bringing  such  aliens  to  the  United  States,  and 
shall  be  a  debt  in  favor  of  the  United  States  against  the  owner 
or  owners  of  such  vessel,  or  other  vehicle,  and  the  payment  of 


638  IMMIGRATION  ACT  [February  20 

such  tax  may  be  enforced  by  any  legal  or  equitable  remedy. 
That  the  said  tax  shall  not  be  levied  upon  aliens  who  shall 
enter  the  United  States  after  an  uninterrupted  residence  of  at 
least  one  year,  immediately  preceding  such  entrance,  in  the 
Dominion  of  Canada,  Newfoundland,  the  Republic  of  Cuba, 
or  the  Republic  of  Mexico,  nor  upon  otherwise  admissible 
residents  of  any  possession  of  the  United  States,  nor  upon  aliens 
in  transit  through  the  United  States,  nor  upon  aliens  who  have 
been  lawfully  admitted  to  the  United  States  and  who  later 
shall  go  in  transit  from  one  part  of  the  United  States  to  another 
through  foreign  contiguous  territory :  .  .  .  .  Provided  further, 
That  the  provisions  of  this  section  shall  not  apply,  to  aliens 
arriving  in  Guam,  Porto  Rico,  or  Hawaii ;  but  if  any  such  alien, 
not  having  become  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  shall  later 
arrive  at  any  port  or  place  of  the  United  States  on  the  North 
American  Continent  the  provisions  of  this  section  shall  apply : 
Provided  further,  That  whenever  the  President  shall  be  satisfied 
that  passports  issued  by  any  foreign  government  to  its  citizens 
to  go  to  any  country  other  than  the  United  States  or  to  any 
insular  possession  of  the  United  States  or  to  the  Canal  Zone 
are  being  used  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  the  holders  to  come 
to  the  continental  territory  of  the  United  States  to  the  detri 
ment  of  labor  conditions  therein,  the  President  may  refuse 
to  permit  such  citizens  of  the  country  issuing  such  passports 
to  enter  the  continental  territory  of  the  United  States  from  such 
other  country  or  from  such  insular  possessions  or  from  the  Canal 
Zone. 

SEC.  2.  That  the  following  classes  of  aliens  shall  be  excluded 
from  admission  into  the  United  States:  All  idiots,  imbeciles, 
feeble-minded  persons,  epileptics,  insane  persons,  and  persons 
who  have  been  insane  within  five  years  previous ;  persons  who 
have  had  two  or  more  attacks  of  insanity  at  any  time  previously ; 
paupers ;  persons  likely  to  become  a  public  charge ;  professional 
beggars;  persons  afflicted  with  tuberculosis  or  with  a  loath 
some  or  dangerous  contagious  disease;  persons  not  compre 
hended  within  any  of  the  foregoing  excluded  classes  who  are 
found  to  be  and  are  certified  by  the  examining  surgeon  as  being 
mentally  or  physically  defective,  such  mental  or  physical 
defect  being  of  a  nature  which  may  affect  the  ability  of  such 


1907]  IMMIGRATION  ACT  639 

alien  to  earn  a  living ;  persons  who  have  been  convicted  of  or 
admit  having  committed  a  felony  or  other  crime  or  misdemeanor 
involving  moral  turpitude ;  polygamists,  or  persons  who  admit 
their  belief  in  the  practice  of  polygamy,  anarchists,  or  persons 
who  believe  in  or  advocate  the  overthrow  by  force  or  violence  of 
the  Government  of  the  United  States,  or  of  all  government,  or 
of  all  forms  of  law,  or  the  assassination  of  public  officials ;  [per 
sons  coming  for  immoral  purposes;]  persons  hereinafter  called 
contract  laborers,  who  have  been  induced  or  solicited  to  migrate 
to  this  country  by  offers  or  promises  of  employment  or  in  con 
sequence  of  agreements,  oral,  written  or  printed,  express  or 
implied,  to  perform  labor  in  this  country  of  any  kind,  skilled 
or  unskilled;  those  who  have  been,  within  one  year  from  the 
date  of  application  for  admission  to  the  United  States,  deported 
as  having  been  induced  or  solicited  to  migrate  as  above 
described ;  any  person  whose  ticket  or  passage  is  paid  for  with 
the  money  of  another,  or  who  is  assisted  by  others  to  come, 
unless  it  is  affirmatively  and  satisfactorily  shown  that  such 
person  does  not  belong  to  one  of  the  foregoing  excluded  classes, 
and  that  said  ticket  or  passage  was  not  paid  for  by  any  corpora 
tion,  association,  society,  municipality,  or  foreign  government, 
either  directly  or  indirectly;  all  children  under  sixteen  years 
of  agCj  unaccompanied  by  one  or  both  of  their  parents,  at  the 
discretion  of  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor  or  under 
such  regulations  as  he  may  from  time  to  time  prescribe :  Pro 
vided,  That  nothing  in  this  Act  shall  exclude,  if  otherwise  admis 
sible,  persons  convicted  of  an  offense  purely  political,  not 
involving  moral  turpitude  :  Provided  further,  That  the  provisions 
of  this  section  relating  to  the  payments  for  tickets  or  passage 
by  any  corporation,  association,  society,  municipality,  or  foreign 
government  shall  not  apply  to  the  tickets  or  passage  of  aliens 
in  immediate  and  continuous  transit  through  the  United  States 
to  foreign  contiguous  territory :  And  provided  further,  That 
skilled  labor  may  be  imported  if  labor  of  like  kind  unemployed 
can  not  be  found  in  this  country:  And  provided  further,  That 
the  provisions  of  this  law  applicable  to  contract  labor  shall 
not  be  held  to  exclude  professional  actors,  artists,  lecturers, 
singers,  ministers  of  any  religious  denomination,  professors 
for  colleges  or  seminaries,  persons  belonging  to  any  recognized 


640  IMMIGRATION  ACT  [February  20 

learned  profession,  or  persons  employed  strictly  as  personal 

or  domestic  servants. 

******** 

SEC.  6.  That  it  shall  be  unlawful  ...  to  assist  or  encour 
age  the  importation  or  migration  of  any  alien  by  promise  of 
employment  through  advertisements  printed  and  published 
in  any  foreign  country;  and  any  alien  coming  to  this  country 
in  consequence  of  such  an  advertisement  shall  be  treated  as 
coming  under  promise  or  agreement  as  contemplated  in  section 
two  of  this  Act  .  .  .  :  Provided,  That  this  section  shall  not 
apply  to  State  or  Territories,  the  District  of  Columbia,  or 
places  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  advertising 
the  inducements  they  offer  for  immigration  thereto,  respect 
ively. 

SEC.  7.  That  no  transportation  company  or  owner  or 
owners  of  vessels,  or  others  engaged  in  transporting  aliens  into 
the  United  States,  shall,  directly  or  indirectly,  either  by  writ 
ing,  printing,  or  oral  representation,  solicit,  invite,  or  encour 
age  the  immigration  of  any  aliens  into  the  United  States,  but 
this  shall  not  be  held  to  prevent  transportation  companies 
from  issuing  letters,  circulars,  or  advertisements,  stating  the 
sailings  of  their  vessels  and  terms  and  facilities  of  transporta 
tion  therein  .... 

SEC.  8.  That  any  person,  including  the  master,  agent, 
owner,  or  consignee  of  any  vessel,  who  shall  bring  into  or  land 
in  the  United  States,  by  vessel  or  otherwise,  or  who  shall  attempt, 
by  himself  or  through  another,  to  bring  into  or  land  in  the 
United  States,  by  vessel  or  otherwise,  any  alien  not  duly  ad 
mitted  by  an  immigrant  inspector  or  not  lawfully  entitled  to 
enter  the  United  States  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor, 
and  shall,  on  conviction,  be  punished  by  a  fine  not  exceeding 
one  thousand  dollars,  or  by  imprisonment  for  a  term  not  exceed 
ing  two  years,  or  by  both  such  fine  and  imprisonment  for  each 
and  every  alien  so  landed  or  brought  in  or  attempted  to  be 
landed  or  brought  in. 

SEC.  9.  That  it  shall  be  unlawful  for  any  person,  including 
any  transportation  company  other  than  railway  lines  entering 
the  United  States  from  foreign  contiguous  territory,  or  the 
owner,  master,  agent,  or  consignee  of  any  vessel  to  bring  to 


1907]  IMMIGRATION  ACT  641 

the  United  States  any  alien  subject  to  any  of  the  following  dis 
abilities  :  Idiots,  imbeciles,  epileptics,  or  persons  afflicted  with 
tuberculosis  or  with  a  loathsome  or  dangerous  contagious  dis 
ease  .... 

SEC.  10.  That  the  decision  of  the  board  of  special  inquiry, 
hereinafter  provided  for,  based  upon  the  certificate  of  the 
examining  medical  officer,  shall  be  final  as  to  the  rejection  of 
aliens  affected  with  tuberculosis  or  with  a  loathsome  or  danger 
ous  contagious  disease,  or  with  any  mental  or  physical  dis 
ability  which  would  bring  such  aliens  within  any  of  the  classes 
excluded  from  admission  to  the  United  States  under  section 
two  of  this  Act. 

SEC.  ii.  That  upon  the  certificate  of  a  medical  officer  of 
the  United  States  Public  Health  and  Marine  Hospital  Service 
to  the  effect  that  a  rejected  alien  is  helpless  from  sickness, 
mental  or  physical  disability,  or  infancy,  if  such  alien  is  accom 
panied  by  another  alien  whose  protection  or  guardianship  is 
required  by  such  rejected  alien,  such  accompanying  alien  may 
also  be  excluded,  and  the  master,  agent,  owner,  or  consignee  of 
the  vessel  in  which  such  alien  and  accompanying  alien  are 
brought  shall  be  required  to  return  said  alien  and  accompany 
ing  alien  in  the  same  manner  as  vessels  are  required  to  return 
other  rejected  aliens. 

******** 

SEC.  19.  That  all  aliens  brought  to  this  country  in  viola 
tion  of  law  shall,  if  practicable,  be  immediately  sent  back  to 
the  country  whence  they  respectively  came  on  the  vessels 
bringing  them.  The  cost  of  their  maintenance  while  on  land, 
as  well  as  the  expense  of  the  return  of  such  aliens,  shall  be  borne 
by  the  owner  or  owners  of  the  vessels  on  which  they  respectively 
came;  and  if  any  master,  person  in  charge,  agent,  owner,  or 
consignee  of  any  such  vessel  shall  refuse  to  receive  back  on 
board  thereof,  or  on  board  of  any  other  vessel  owned  or  operated 
by  the  same  interests,  such  aliens,  or  shall  fail  to  detain  them 
thereon,  or  shall  refuse  or  fail  to  return  them  to  the  foreign 
port  from  which  they  came,  or  to  pay  the  cost  of  their  main 
tenance  while  on  land,  or  shall  make  any  charge  for  the  return 
of  any  such  alien,  or  shall  take  any  security  from  him  for  the 
payment  of  such  charge,  such  master,  person  in  charge,  agent, 

2T 


642  IMMIGRATION   ACT  [February  20 

owner,  or  consignee  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor 
and  shall,  on  conviction,  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  less  than 
three  hundred  dollars  for  each  and  every  such  offense ;  and  no 
vessel  shall  have  clearance  from  any  port  of  the  United  States 
while  any  such  fine  is  unpaid  :  Provided,  That  the  Commissioner- 
General  of  Immigration,  with  the  approval  of  the  Secretary 
of  Commerce  and  Labor,  may  suspend,  upon  conditions  to  be 
prescribed  by  the  Commissioner-General  of  Immigration,  the 
deportation  of  any  alien  found  to  have  come  in  violation  of  any 
provision  of  this  Act,  if,  in  his  judgment,  the  testimony  of 
such  alien  is  necessary  on  behalf  of  the  United  States  Govern 
ment  in  the  prosecution  of  offenders  against  any  provision  of 
this  Act :  Provided,  That  the  cost  of  maintenance  of  any  per 
son  so  detained  resulting  from  such  suspension  of  deportation 
shall  be  paid  from  the  " immigrant  fund"  but  no  alien  certified, 
as  provided  in  section  seventeen  of  this  Act,  to  be  suffering  from 
tuberculosis  or  from  a  loathsome  or  dangerous  contagious  disease 
other  than  one  of  quarantinable  nature  shall  be  permitted  to 
land  for  medical  treatment  thereof  in  any  hospital  in  the  United 
States,  unless  with  the  express  permission  of  the  Secretary  of 
Commerce  and  Labor :  Provided,  That  upon  the  certificate  of  a 
medical  officer  of  the  United  States  Public  Health  and  Marine- 
Hospital  Service  to  the  effect  that  the  health  or  safety  of  an 
insane  alien  would  be  unduly  imperiled  by  immediate  deporta 
tion,  such  alien  may,  at  the  expense  of  the  "immigrant  fund," 
be  held  for  treatment  until  such  time  as  such  alien  may,  in  the 
opinion  of  such  medical  officer,  be  safely  deported. 

SEC.  20.  That  any  alien  who  shall  enter  the  United  States 
in  violation  of  law,  and  such  as  become  public  charges  from 
causes  existing  prior  to  landing,  shall,  upon  the  warrant  of  the 
Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  be  taken  into  custody  and 
deported  to  the  country  whence  he  came  at  any  time  within 
three  years  after  the  date  of  his  entry  into  the  United  States. 
Such  deportation,  including  one-half  of  the  entire  cost  of  removal 
to  the  port  of  deportation,  shall  be  at  the  expense  of  the  con 
tractor,  procurer,  or  other  person  by  whom  the  alien  was  un 
lawfully  induced  to  enter  the  United  States,  or,  if  that  can  not 
be  done,  then  the  cost  of  removal  to  the  port  of  deportation 
shall  be  at  the  expense  of  the  "immigrant  fund"  provided  for 


1907]  IMMIGRATION  ACT  643 

in  section  one  of  this  Act,  and  the  deportation  from  such  port 
shall  be  at  the  expense  of  the  owner  or  owners  of  such  vessel 

or  transportation  line  by  which  such  aliens  respectively  came  .  .  . 
******** 

SEC.  21.  That  in  case  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor 
shall  be  satisfied  that  an  alien  has  been  found  in  the  United 
States  in  violation  of  this  Act,  or  that  an  alien  is  subject  to 
deportation  under  the  provisions  of  this  Act  or  of  any  law  of 
the  United  States,  he  shall  cause  such  alien  within  the  period 
of  three  years  after  landing  or  entry  therein  to  be  taken  into 
custody  and  returned  to  the  country  whence  he  came,  as  pro 
vided  by  section  twenty  of  this  Act,  and  a  failure  or  refusal 
on  the  part  of  the  masters,  agents,  owners,  or  consignees  of 
vessels  to  comply  with  the  order  of  the  Secretary  of  Commerce 
and  Labor  to  take  on  board,  guard  safely,  and  return  to  the 
country  whence  he  came  any  alien  ordered  to  be  deported 
under  the  provisions  of  this  Act  shall  be  punished  by  the  imposi 
tion  of  the  penalties  prescribed  in  section  nineteen  of  this  Act : 
Provided,  That  when  in  the  opinion  of  the  Secretary  of  Com 
merce  and  Labor  the  mental  or  physical  condition  of  such  alien 
is  such  as  to  require  personal  care  and  attendance,  he  may  em 
ploy  a  suitable  person  for  that  purpose,  who  shall  accompany 
such  alien  to  his  or  her  final  destination,  and  the  expense  incident 
to  such  service  shall  be  defrayed  in  like  manner. 

SEC.  22.  That  the  Commissioner- General  of  Immigration, 
in  addition  to  such  other  duties  as  may  by  law  be  assigned  to 
him,  shall,  under  the  direction  of  the  Secretary  of  Commerce 
and  Labor,  have  charge  of  the  administration  of  all  laws  relat 
ing  to  the  immigration  of  aliens  into  the  United  States,  and  shall 
have  the  control,  direction,  and  supervision  of  all  officers, 

clerks,  and  employees  appointed  thereunder.  .  .  . 

******** 

SEC.  29.  That  the  circuit  and  district  courts  of  the  United 
States  are  hereby  invested  with  full  and  concurrent  jurisdiction 
of  all  causes,  civil  and  criminal,  arising  under  any  of  the  provi 
sions  of  this  Act. 

******** 

SEC.  37.  That  whenever  an  alien  shall  have  taken  up  his 
permanent  residence  in  this  country,  and  shall  have  filed  his 


644  ACT    RELATING  TO   EXPATRIATION  [March  2 

declaration  of  intention  to  become  a  citizen,  and  thereafter 
shall  send  for  his  wife,  or  minor  children  to  join  him,  if  said 
wife  or  any  of  said  children  shall  be  found  to  be  affected  with 
any  contagious  disorder,  such  wife  or  children  shall  be  held, 
under  such  regulations  as  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor 
shall  prescribe,  until  it  shall  be  determined  whether  the  disorder 
will  be  easily  curable,  or  whether  they  can  be  permitted  to 
land  without  danger  to  other  persons ;  and  they  shall  not  be 
either  admitted  or  deported  until  such  facts  have  been  ascer 
tained  ;  and  if  it  shall  be  determined  that  the  disorder  is  easily 
curable  or  that  they  can  be  permitted  to  land  without  danger 
to  other  persons,  they  shall,  if  otherwise  admissible,  thereupon 
be  admitted. 

SEC.  38.  That  no  person  who  disbelieves  in  or  who  is  op 
posed  to  all  organized  government,  or  who  is  a  member  of  or 
affiliated  with  any  organization  entertaining  and  teaching  such 
disbelief  in  or  opposition  to  all  organized  government,  or  who 
advocates  or  teaches  the  duty,  necessity,  or  propriety  of  the 
unlawful  assaulting  or  killing  of  any  officer  or  officers,  either 
of  specific  individuals  or  of  officers  generally,  of  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  or  of  any  other  organized  government, 
because  of  his  or  their  official  character,  shall  be  permitted 
to  enter  the  United  States  or  any  territory  or  place  subject  to 

the  jurisdiction  thereof.  .  .  . 

******** 

SEC.  41.  That  nothing  in  this  Act  shall  be  construed  to 
apply  to  accredited  officials  of  foreign  governments  nor  to  their 
suites,  families,  or  guests. 

Approved,  February  20,  1907. 


No.   196.     Act  relating  to  Expatriation 

March  2,  1907 

IN  pursuance  of  a  Senate  resolution  of  April  13,  1906,  and  of  a  report 
submitted  to  the  House  of  Representatives  June  6,  the  Secretary  of  State, 
Elihu  Root,  appointed  James  B.  Scott,  David  Jayne  Hill  and  Gaillard  Hunt 


ACT  RELATING  TO  EXPATRIATION  645 

a  board  "to  inquire  into  the  laws  and  practice  regarding  citizenship,  expa 
triation,  and  protection  abroad,  and  to  report  recommendations  for  legis 
lation."  The  submission  of  the  report  of  the  board,  which  was  laid  before 
Congress  December  18,  was  followed,  January  14,  1907,  by  the  introduc 
tion  in  the  House,  by  James  B.  Perkins  of  New  York,  of  a  bill  relating  to 
expatriation,  which  passed  on  the  2ist  without  a  division.  On  the  2 7th 
an  amended  bill  passed  the  Senate  without  a  division.  The  House  accepted 
the  Senate  amendments,  and  March  2  the  act  was  approved. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  XXXIV.,  Part  i,  1228, 
1229.  The  debate  was  unimportant.  The  report  of  the  board  is  House 
Doc.  326,  59th  Cong.,  2d  Sess. 

An  Act  In  reference  to  the  expatriation  of  citizens  and  their  protection 
abroad. 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  ,  That  the  Secretary  of  State  shall  be 
authorized,  in  his  discretion,  to  issue  passports  to  persons  not 
citizens  of  the  United  States  as  follows:  Where  any  person 
has  made  a  declaration  of  intention  to  become  such  a  citizen 
as  provided  by  law  and  has  resided  in  the  United  States  for 
three  years  a  passport  may  be  issued  to  him  entitling  him  to 
the  protection  of  the  Government  in  any  foreign  country: 
Provided,  That  such  passport  shall  not  be  valid  for  more  than 
six  months  and  shall  not  be  renewed,  and  that  such  passport 
shall  not  entitle  the  holder  to  the  protection  of  this  Government 
in  the  country  of  which  he  was  a  citizen  prior  to  making  such 
declaration  of  intention. 

SEC.  2.  That  any  American  citizen  shall  be  deemed  to  have 
expatriated  himself  when  he  has  been  naturalized  in  any  foreign 
state  in  conformity  with  its  laws,  or  when  he  has  taken  an  oath 
of  allegiance  to  any  foreign  state. 

When  any  naturalized  citizen  shall  have  resided  for  two  years 
in  the  foreign  state  from  which  he  came,  or  for  five  years  in 
any  other  foreign  state  it  shall  be  presumed  that  he  has  ceased 
to  be  an  American  citizen,  and  the  place  of  his  general  abode 
shall  be  deemed  his  place  of  residence  during  said  years :  Pro 
vided,  however,  That  such  presumption  may  be  overcome  on  the 
presentation  of  satisfactory  evidence  to  a  diplomatic  or  consular 
officer  of  the  United  States,  under  such  rules  and  regulations 
as  the  Department  of  State  may  prescribe :  And  provided  also, 
That  no  American  citizen  shall  be  allowed  to  expatriate  himself 
when  this  country  is  at  war. 


646  ACT  RELATING  TO   EXPATRIATION          [March  2 

SEC.  3.  That  any  American  woman  who  marries  a  foreigner 
shall  take  the  nationality  of  her  husband.  At  the  termination 
of  the  marital  relation  she  may  resume  her  American  citizen 
ship,  if  abroad,  by  registering  as  an  American  citizen  within 
one  year  with  a  consul  of  the  United  States,  or  by  returning  to 
reside  in  the  United  States,  or,  if  residing  in  the  United  States 
at  the  termination  of  the  marital  relation,  by  continuing  to 
reside  therein. 

SEC.  4.  That  any  foreign  woman  who  acquires  American 
citizenship  by  marriage  to  an  American  shall  be  assumed  to 
retain  the  same  after  the  termination  of  the  marital  relation 
if  she  continue  to  reside  in  the  United  States,  unless  she  makes 
formal  renunciation  thereof  before  a  court  having  jurisdiction 
to  naturalize  aliens,  or  if  she  resides  abroad  she  may  retain 
her  citizenship  by  registering  as  such  before  a  United  States 
consul  within  one  year  after  the  termination  of  such  marital 
relation. 

SEC.  5.  That  a  child  born  without  the  United  States  of 
alien  parents  shall  be  deemed  a  citizen  of  the  United  States 
by  virtue  of  the  naturalization  of  or  resumption  of  American 
citizenship  by  the  parent:  Provided,  That  such  naturalization 
or  resumption  takes  place  during  the  minority  of  such  child : 
And  provided  further,  That  the  citizenship  of  such  minor  child 
shall  begin  at  the  time  such  minor  child  begins  to  reside  per 
manently  in  the  United  States. 

SEC.  6.  That  all  children  born  outside  the  limits  of  the 
United  States  who  are  citizens  thereof  in  accordance  with  the 
provisions  of  section  nineteen  hundred  and  ninety-three  of 
the  Revised  Statutes  of  the  United  States  and  who  continue 
to  reside  outside  the  United  States  shall,  in  order  to  receive 
the  protection  of  this  Government,  be  required  upon  reaching 
the  age  of  eighteen  years  to  record  at  an  American  consulate 
their  intention  to  become  residents  and  remain  citizens  of  the 
United  States  and  shall  be  further  required  to  take  the  oath  of 

allegiance  to  the  United  States  upon  attaining  their  majority. 
******** 

Approved,  March  2,  1907. 


1913]     SIXTEENTH  AND  SEVENTEENTH  AMENDMENTS     647 


No.   197.     Sixteenth  Amendment 

February  25,  1913 

A  joint  resolution  proposing  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  regard 
ing  taxes  on  incomes,  reported  in  the  Senate,  June  28,  1909,  by  Nelson  W. 
Aldrich  of  Rhode  Island,  from  the  Committee  on  Finance,  passed  the  Sen 
ate,  July  5,  by  a  vote  of  77  to  o,  15  not  voting.  An  unsuccessful  attempt 
was  made  to  amend  the  resolution  by  adding  to  it  provisions  substantially 
identical  with  those  of  the  Seventeenth  Amendment  (No.  198).  The  reso 
lution  passed  the  House,  July  12,  by  a  vote  of  318  to  14,  i  answering  "pres 
ent",  55  not  voting.  The  amendment  was  ratified  by  all  the  States  except 
Connecticut,  Florida,  Pennsylvania,  Rhode  Island,  Utah  and  Virginia. 
A  proclamation  of  February  25,  1913,  declared  the  amendment  in  force. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  Stat.  at  Large,  XXXVII.,  Part  2,  1785 
For  the  debates  see  the  Cong.  Record,  6ist  Cong.,  ist  Sess.  The  important 
debate  was  in  the  House. 

ARTICLE  XVI. 

The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  lay  and  collect  taxes  on 
incomes,  from  whatever  source  derived,  without  apportion 
ment  among  the  several  States,  and  without  regard  to  any  census 
or  enumeration. 


No.    198.     Seventeenth  Amendment 

May  31,  1913 

A  JOINT  resolution  proposing  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  provid 
ing  for  the  popular  election  of  Senators  was  reported,  January  n,  1911,  by 
William  E.  Borah  of  Idaho  from  the  Senate  Committee  on  Judiciary,  to 
which  the  matter  had  been  referred,  and  debated  at  length  until  February  28, 
when  it  failed  to  pass,  less  than  two-thirds  voting  for  it.  In  the  62d  Congress 
numerous  resolutions  relating  to  the  subject  appeared  in  both  houses. 
A  joint  resolution  identical  with  that  of  January  n  was  presented  in  the 
House,  April  5,  1911,  by  William  W.  Rucker  of  Missouri,  and  on  the  i3th 
passed  with  amendments  by  a  vote  of  296  to  16,  77  not  voting.  An  amended 
form,  reported  by  Senator  Borah  May  i,  passed  the  Senate,  June  12,  by  a 
vote  of  64  to  24,  2  not  voting.  The  House  disagreed  to  the  Senate  amend 
ments,  and  the  resolution  went  to  a  conference  committee,  where  it  remained 
until  the  close  of  the  session.  April  17,  1912,  in  the  second  session,  Senator 


648  SEVENTEENTH  AMENDMENT          [May  31,  1913 

Clarence  D.  Clark  of  Wyoming  reported  that  the  conference  committee 
were  unable  to  agree ;  but  on  the  23d  the  House  yielded,  and  May  14  the 
resolution  was  signed  by  the  Speaker  and  the  Vice-President.  The  amend 
ment  was  ratified  by  all  the  States  except  Alabama,  Delaware,  Florida, 
Georgia,  Kentucky,  Louisiana,  Maryland,  Mississippi,  Rhode  Island,  South 
Carolina,  Utah  and  Virginia.  A  proclamation  of  May  31  declared  the 
amendment  in  force.  An  act  of  June  4,  1914,  to  expire  three  years  from  its 
date,  made  temporary  provision  for  the  election  of  senators  under  the  new 
system. 

REFERENCES.  —  Text  in  U.  S.  StaL  at  Large,  XXXVIII.,  Part  2,  2049. 
For  the  debates  see  the  Cong.  Record,  6ist  and  62d  Congresses.  See  also 
House  Report  2,  62d  Cong.,  ist  Sess. ;  the  Sutherland  minority  report  of 
May  22,  1911,  is  Senate  Report  35  (also  in  the  Record,  1428,  1429). 

ARTICLE  XVII 

1.  The  Senate  of  the  United  States  shall  be  composed  of  two 
Senators  from  each  State,  elected  by  the  people  thereof,  for  six 
years ;   and  each  Senator  shall  have  one  vote.     The  electors  in 
each  State  shall  have  the  qualifications  requisite  for  electors  of 
the  most  numerous  branch  of  the  State  legislatures. 

2.  When  vacancies  happen  in  the  representation  of  any  State 
in  the  Senate,  the  executive  authority  of  such  State  shall  issue 
writs  of  election  to  fill  such  vacancies  :  Provided,  That  the  legis 
lature  of  any  State  may  empower  the  executive  thereof  to  make 
temporary  appointment  until  the  people  fill  the  vacancies  by 
election  as  the  legislature  may  direct. 

3.  This  amendment  shall  not  be  so  construed  as  to  affect  the 
election  or  term  of  any  Senator  chosen  before  it  becomes  valid  as 
part  of  the  Constitution. 


Index 


[REFERENCES  IN  ITALICS  INDICATE  A  TEXT  WITH  ACCOMPANYING  NOTES.] 


Abarzuza,  B.  de,  608. 

Abolition  of  slavery   in  District  of  Co 

lumbia,  450-451  ;    in  Territories,  452. 
Acadia,  93,  94. 
Acadians  deported,  109. 
Adams,  John,  162,  184,  190,  209. 
Adams,  J.  Q.,  284,  293,  311,  324. 
Adams,  Robert,  597,  599. 
Adams,  Samuel,  147,  162. 
Adams,  William,  293. 
Administration  of  Justice  act,  159—162. 
Admission    of  Missouri,    resolution  for, 

317,   318;    of  Virginia  to  representa 

tion  in  Congress,  544—546. 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  treaty  of,  109. 
Alabama    admitted    as    a    State,    311; 

admitted  to  representation  in  Congress, 

532-534- 

Alaska  treaty,  511—514. 
Aldrich,  Nelson  W.,  647. 
Alien  act,  261-263. 
Alien  and  Sedition  acts,  258-267. 
Alien  Enemies  act,  263—265. 
Allison,  W.  B.,  574. 
Amendments  to  Constitution,  proposed 

by    Hartford    Convention,     296-301  ; 

thirteenth  amendment,  494;  fourteenth, 

536  ;    fifteenth,    546,    547  ;     sixteenth, 

647  ;   seventeenth,  647,  648. 
Amnesty  proclamation,  470—472. 
Amsterdam,  26. 
Andros  in  Connecticut,   60;    in  Rhode 

Island,  67;   in  Massachusetts,  84. 
Annexation     of     Texas,     368-370;      of 

Hawaiian  Islands,  600-602. 
Antietam,  457. 
Anti-Trust  act,  591—593. 
Archer  (Va.),  368. 
Arkansas   admitted   to   representation   in 


Congress,  530-531. 
Army,  command  of,  507,  508. 
Arnold,  I.  N.,  452. 


Arthur,  C.  A.,  572. 

Article  of  war,    act  for  additional,   448, 

449. 
Articles   of  Confederation,    195—204;    of 

impeachment,  518—529. 
Ashburton  treaty,  361—368. 
Ashley,  J.  M.,  500,  518,  529. 
Association,  The,  166-171. 
Atherton  Company,  67. 
Auchmuty,  Robert,  106. 
Avalon,  31. 

Bacon,  Sir  Francis,  9. 

Baltimore  and  Ohio  R.  R.  Co.,  444. 

Baltimore,  Lord,  first,  31 ;  second,  31, 
S3,  54,  80. 

Bank  of  United  States  (second),  302— 
306;  Jackson's  first  message,  320, 
321;  second  message,  322,  323;  third 
message,  323;  veto  message,  324-329; 
removal  of  deposits,  344-353 ;  National 
Bank  aqt,  473-482. 

Bayard,  J.  A.,  293,  441. 

Benton,  T.  H.,  359. 

Bermudas,  14. 

Bernard,  Francis,  146. 

Berry,  A.  S.,  597.    . 

Bingham,  J.  A.,  440,  498,  547,  554. 

Elaine,  J.  G.,  501. 

Bland,  R.  P.,  573,  595- 

" Bland- Allison"  act,  573-575,  596. 

Blockade  oj  Southern  ports,  434,  435. 

Bollan,  William,  151,  155. 

Borah,  William  E.,  647. 

Boston  Port  act,  150-154. 

Boutwell,  G.  S.,  518. 

Bowdoin,  James,  162. 

Braddock's  defeat,  109. 

Bradford,  William,  19. 


Breckinridge,  John,  267. 
Breda,  treaty  of,  75. 
Brook,  Lord,  36. 
649 


650 


INDEX 


Brown,  B.  G.,  482. 
Bunau-Varilla,  623. 
Bunker  Hill  battle,  188. 
Burke,  Edmund,  188. 
Bute,  Lord,  117. 
Butler,  B.  F.,  553,  564,  568. 
Butler,  R.  R.,  534. 

Calhoun,  J.  C.,  288,  302,  333. 

Call  for  75,000  volunteers,  433,  434. 

Calvert,  Cecil,  31. 

Calvert,  George,  31. 

Cambon,  Jules,  602. 

Cambridge,  Mass.  (Newtowne),  36. 

Camden,  Lord,  147. 

Cameron,  Simon,  444. 

Campaign  contributions,  prohibition  of, 
by  corporations,  635,  636. 

Canada,  93. 

Canal  Zone,  623. 

Capitol,  location  of  national,  233. 

Carolina,  first  charter  of,  63—66 ;  second 
charter,  70—78. 

Carteret,  Lord,  77,  95. 

Cerero,  Rafael,  608. 

Chandler,  William  £.,635. 

Charter  of  Carolina,  first,  63—66 ;  of 
Carolina,  second,  70—78 ;  of  Connecti 
cut,  60—62  ;  of  Georgia,  95— 103  ;  of 
Maryland,  31-35;  of  Massachusetts, 
first,  22-26;  of  Massachusetts,  second, 
84-90;  of  Pennsylvania,  80-84;  °f 
privileges  to  patrons,  26-31;  of 
Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Planta 
tions,  66—7  2  ;  of  Virginia,  'first,  1—9 ; 
of  Virginia,  second,  9—14 ;  of  Virginia, 
third,  14—19. 

Chase,  S.  P.,  436,  446,  519. 

Chatham,  Earl  of,  147,  172,  188.  See 
Pitt. 

Chinese  Exclusion  act,  616-618. 

Churchill,  J.  C.,  554- 

Cienfuegos,  599. 

Civil  Rights  act,  first,  494-497 ;  second, 
568,  569. 

Civil  Service  act,  575-581. 

Claiborne,  William,  306. 

Clark,  Champ,  616. 

Clark,  Clarence  D.,  648. 

Clarke,  John,  66. 

Clarke,  Sidney,  518. 

Clay,  Henry,  293,  312,  341,  368,  383; 
resolutions  on  compromise  of  1850, 
384-386. 


Clayton,  J.  M.,  324. 

Clayton-Bulvver  treaty,  614. 

Cleveland,  Grover,  600. 

Coddington,  William,  43. 

Coinage  act  of  1873,  565,  566 ;  of  standard 
silver  dollar,  573-575. 

Coit,  Joshua,  259. 

Coke,  Sir  Edward,  i. 

Colon,  revolution  at,  623. 

Command  of  the  army,  507,  508. 

Compensated  emancipation,  joint  resolu 
tion  on,  449,  450. 

Compromise  of  1850,  383-394;  Clay's 
resolutions,  384—386;  report  of  Com 
mittee  of  Thirteen,  386,  387;  Utah 
act,  387 ;  Texas  and  New  Mexico  act, 
388,  389;  Fugitive  Slave  act,  390— 
393 ;  act  abolishing  slave  trade  in 
District  of  Columbia,  394. 

Conciliatory  resolution,  Lord  North's, 
171,  172;  report  on,  184-188. 

Concord  battle,  188. 

Confederate  States  of  America,  constitu 
tion,  424-433. 

Confiscation  act  of  1861,  442—444;  of 
1862,  454-457. 

Conger,  E.  H.,  593. 

Conkling,  Roscoe,  449. 

Connecticut,  fundamental  orders  of,  36— 
39;  charter,  60-62. 

Conspiracies,  act  to  define  and  punish 
certain,  441,  442. 

Constitution  of  American  Anti-Slavery 
Society,  353-355  ;  of  Confederate  States 
of  America,  424—433;  of  Missouri, 
316,  317;  of  United  States,  216-232; 
thirteenth  amendment,  494;  fourteenth 
amendment,  536-538;  fifteenth  amend 
ment,  546,  547. 

Constitutions  of  Virginia,  Mississippi, 
and  Texas,  submission  of,  540,  541. 

Contract  between  Girard  Bank  and  United 
States,  352,  353. 

Convention  parliament,  56. 

Conway,  Henry,  139,  147. 

Cooper,  Grey,  184. 

Cornwallis,  Lord,  204. 

Council  for  New  England,  22,  36. 

Coxe,  Daniel,  63. 

Credit,    act    to    stret^then    public,    539, 

54°- 

" Crime  of  1873,"  565,  566. 
Crittenden,  J.  J.,  439. 


INDEX 


Cuba,  independence  of,  597,  598. 

Cullom,  S.  M.,  581. 

Curtis,  B.  R.,  dissenting  opinion  in  Dred 

Scott  case,  416—420. 
Gushing,  Thomas,  162. 

Dallas,  A.  J.,  324. 

Dane,  Nathan,  209. 

Dartmouth,  Lord,  188. 

Davenport,  John,  30—43,  60. 

Davis,  C.  K.,  597,  608. 

Davis,  Garrett,  453. 

Davis,  H.  W.,  482. 

Davis,  Jefferson,  434. 

Dawes,  H.  L.,  534. 

Day,  W.  R.,  608. 

De  Berdt,  Dennis,  147. 

Declaration  and  Resolves  of  First  Con 
tinental  Congress,  162-166. 

Declaration  of  causes  and  necessity  of 
taking  up  arms,  176—183;  of  inde 
pendence,  190—194;  of  war  (1812), 
288,  289;  of  war  (1898),  598,  599. 

Declaratory  act,  139,  140. 

Deposits,  removal  of,  344-353 ;  act  to 
regulate,  355-359- 

Dickinson,  John,  137,  176,  188,  195. 

Dillingham,  William  P.,  637. 

Dingley,  Nelson,  597. 

Disabilities,  political,  act  removing,  564. 

District  of  Columbia,  abolition  of  slave 
trade,  394;  abolition  of  slavery,  450, 
451 ;  franchise  in,  499. 

Dixon's  proposed  amendment  to  Kansas- 
Nebraska  bill,  402. 

Dodderidge,  Sir  John,  i . 

Dorchester  Adventurers,  2  2 . 

Dorchester,  Mass.,  36. 

Douglas,  S.  A.,  397-399;  report  on 
Kansas -Nebraska  bill,  399-402. 

"Draft  act"  (1863),  459-463. 

Dred  Scott  decision,  405—420. 

Duane,  W.  J.,  344. 

Dutch  West  India  Company,  26. 

East  Florida,  306. 
Eaton,  Theophilus,  39-43. 
Edmunds,  G.  F.,  504,  535,  542. 
Elective  franchise  in  Territories,  500. 
Electoral  count  (1865),  487 ;    act  of  1877, 

570-573- 
Electoral  votes  of  rebellious  States,  joint 

resolution  excluding,  535. 
Eliot,  T.  D.,  454,  488, 


Emancipation,  joint  resolution  on  com 
pensated,  449,  450;  proclamation, 
457-459- 

Embargo  act,  282,  283 ;  in  New  England, 
284. 

Endicott,  John,  22. 

English  bill,  420,  421. 

Enrolment  act,  459—463. 

Enumerated  articles,  72,  78,  90. 

Expatriation,  act  relating  to,  644—646. 

Family  compact,  109. 

Federalists,  284. 

Fifteenth  amendment,   546,   547;    act  to 

enforce,   547-551;    supplementary  act, 

554-559- 
First    charter    of    Carolina,    63—66;     of 

Massachusetts,  22—26;  of  Virginia,  1—9. 
First  Civil  Rights  act,  494-497. 
First    Continental    Congress,    declaration 

and  resolves,  162—166. 
First  Navigation  act,  55—59. 
First  Reconstruction  act,  500—504. 
Florida,    treaty   of   1819,    306—311;    ad 
mitted   to    representation   in   Congress, 

532-534- 

Fontainebleau,  109. 
"Force  bill"  (1870),  547~55i- 
Foreign    mediation,     resolution    against, 

467-469. 

Fort  Duquesne,  109. 
Fourteenth     amendment,     536-538;      act 

to  enforce,  560—564. 
Fourth  Reconstruction  act,  529,  530. 
France,  treaty  with,  for  Louisiana,  279— 

282. 
Franchise  in  District  of  Columbia,  499; 

in  Territories,  500. 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  139,  176,  184,  188, 

190,  204,  209. 

Freedmen's  bureau,  488—490. 
Freedom  for  soldiers'  families,  490. 
Frye,  W.  P.,  608. 
Fugitive  Slave  act,  390-393. 
Fugitive  slaves,  additional  article  of  war, 

448,  449. 
Fundamental    Articles    of    New    Haven, 

39-43- 

Fundamental  Orders  of  Connecticut,  36-39. 
Funding  system,  Hamilton's  report,  233- 

243- 

Gadsden  treaty,  394—397. 
Gallatin,  Albert,  293. 


INDEX 


Gambler,  Lord,  293. 

Garfield,  J.  A.,  571. 

Garnica,  J.  de,  608. 

Garrison,  W.  L.,  353. 

Gates,  Sir  Thomas,  i. 

General  warrants  in  England,  106. 

Georgia,    charter,    95—103 ;     admitted    to 

representation   in    Congress,    532-534; 

reconstruction    of,    542-544;     act   for 

restoration  of,  553,  554. 
Ghent,  treaty  of,  289-293. 
Giles,  W.  B.,  284. 
Girard  Bank,  Taney's  letter  to,  350,  351 ; 

contract  with  the    United  States,   352, 

353- 

Gold  Standard  act,  609-613. 
Gorton,  Samuel,  43. 
Goulburn,  Henry,  293. 
Government  of  New  Haven,  50-53. 
Grant,  U.  S.,  540,  542,  544,  566,  571. 
Grant  to  Duke  of  York,  74-76. 
Gray,  George,  602,  608. 
Great  Britain,  treaty  of  1783,   204-209; 

of  i?Q4,  244-258;    of  1814,  280-293; 

of  1842,  361-368;   of  1846,  372-374- 
Greene,  Thomas,  53. 
Grenville,  Lord,  117,  122,  143,  238. 
Gridley,  Jeremiah,  106. 
Guadalupe  Hidalgo,  treaty  of,  377-382. 
Guilford,  Conn.,  50. 

Habeas  Corpus  act,  463-466. 

Hakluyt,  Richard,  i. 

Hamilton's  first  report  on  public  credit, 

233-243- 

Hancock,  John,  190-194. 
Harper,  R.  G.,  265. 
Harrison,  Benjamin,  593. 
Hartford,  Conn.,  36. 

Hartford  Convention,  report  of,  293-301. 
Hartley,  David,  209. 
Havana,  109. 
Hawaiian  Islands,   annexation  of,    600- 

602. 

Hay-Herran  convention,  623. 
Hay-Pauncefote  treaty,  614. 
Hayes,  R.  B.,  570,  571,  574. 
Hayne,  R.  Y.,  333- 
Heath,  Sir  Robert,  63,  76. 
Henderson,  J.  B.,  494. 
Hendricks,  T.  A.,  570. 
Henry,  Patrick,  139. 
Hepburn,  William  P.,  618. 
Hickman,  John,  441. 


Hillhouse,  James,  261. 
Hillsborough,  Lord,  147. 
Hobart,  Sir  Henry,  9. 
Holy  Alliance,  318. 
Howell,  Benjamin  F.,  630. 
Hunt,  Gaillard,  644. 
Hunter,  David,  449. 
Hutchinson,  Thomas,  106. 
Hutchinsonian  controversy,  39. 

Immigration  act,  636-644. 

Impeachment  of  Johnson,   articles,   518— 

529- 

Impressment,  282. 
Independence,    Declaration   of,    190—194; 

of  Cuba,  597,  598. 
Independent  Treasury  act,  374—377. 
Indianapolis  Monetary  Commission,  609. 
Ingersoll,  C.  J.,  368. 
Interstate  Commerce  act,  581-590. 
"Iron-clad"  oath,  452-454. 
Isthmian  Canal,  act  for  construction  of, 

618-622. 
Isthmian  Canal  treaty,  614-616. 

Jackson,  Andrew,  first  message,  320, 
321;  second,  322,  323;  third,  323; 
bank  veto,  324-329;  proclamation  to 
South  Carolina,  333-34°;  paper  read 
to  the  Cabinet,  344-349. 

Jay,  John,  176,  188,  209,  258. 

Jay  treaty,  244—258. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  176,  184,  190,  233, 
267,  279,  282. 

Johnson,  Andrew,  439,  491,  499.  5°!. 
508,  514,  518,  532;  articles  of  im 
peachment,  518—529. 

Johnson,  Reverdy,  507. 

Johnson,  Thomas,  176,  188. 

Joint  resolution  for  annexation  of  Texas, 
368-370. 

Kahn,  Julius,  616. 

Kansas,  Lecompton  constitution,  420- 
423- 

Kansas-Nebraska  act,  397-4°S ;  Doug 
las's  report,  399-402 ;  Dixon's  pro 
posed  amendment,  402 ;  Sumner's 
proposed  amendment,  403 ;  act  to 
organize  Territories  of  Nebraska  and 
Kansas,  403-405. 

Kelley,  W.  D.,  565. 

Kelso,  J.  R.,  518. 

Kendall,  Amos,  344. 


INDEX 


653 


Kentucky  and  Virginia  resolutions,  267- 

278. 

Kitchen  cabinet,  344. 
Knox,  J.  J.,  565. 
"Ku  Klux"  act,  560-564. 

Lechmere,  Thomas,  106. 

Lecompton  constitution,  420-423. 

Lee,  Arthur,  188. 

Lee,  R.  H.,  184,  190. 

Legal  tender  notes,  act  authorizing    issue 

of,  446-448. 
Lexington  battle,  188. 
Liliuokalani,  Queen,  600. 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  423,  436,   438,    449, 

450,  454,  457,  459,  463 ;    proclamation 

regarding      reconstruction,      482—487 ; 

emancipation  proclamation,  457—459. 
Livingston,  Philip,  141. 
Livingston,  William,  176. 
Livingstone,  R.  R.,  190,  279,  282. 
Lloyd,  James,  265. 
Loan,  act  for  a  national,  436,  437. 
Loan,  B.  F.,  518. 
Lord     North's     conciliatory     resolution, 

171,  172;   report  on,  184-188. 
Louisburg,  109. 
Louisiana     purchase,     279—283 ;      State 

admitted  to  representation  in  Congress, 

532-534- 
Lovejoy,  Owen,  452. 

Madison,  James,  267,  288,  302,  306. 

Maine,  battleship,  destruction  of,  598. 

Maine,  district  of,  311;  boundary  dis 
pute,  361. 

Manchester,  Earl  of,  60. 

Manila,  109. 

Marbois,  F.  Barbe",  282. 

Maryland  charter,  31-35;  Toleration 
act,  53-55- 

Massachusetts,  first  charter,  22-26;  second 
charter,  84-90;  calls  Stamp  Act  Con 
gress,  136;  calls  First  Continental 
Congress,  162;  circular  letter,  146-^ 
150;  Government  act,  155-159;  part 
in  Hartford  Convention,  293. 

Mather,  Increase,  84. 

Mayflower  compact,  19. 

Maynard,  Horace,  453. 

McCray,  G.  W.,  570. 

McDuffie,  George,  320,  324. 

McKean,  J.  B.,  449. 

McKinley,  William,  597,  599. 


McLane,  Louis,  344. 

Mexican  war,  act  for  prosecution  of,  371, 
372. 

Mexico,  treaty  of  1848,  377-382 ;  treaty 
of  1853,  394-397- 

Milford,  Conn.,  50,  51. 

Militia,  act  j or  calling  out,  440,  441. 

Mississippi,  provisional  government  of, 
538,  539 ;  submission  of  contitution 
of,  540,  54i- 

Missouri  compromise,  311-318;  Tall- 
madge's  amendment,  313;  Taylor's 
amendment,  313,314;  Thomas's  amend- 
ment,  314;  report  of  conference  com 
mittee,  314,  315;  enabling  act,  315, 
316;  constitution,  316,  317  ;  admission, 
3i7,  318. 

Mitchell,  John  H.,  616. 

Molasses  act,  103-105. 

Monroe,  James,  279,  283 ;  message 
enunciating  the  Monroe  doctrine,  318— 
320. 

Moore,  Sir  Henry,  141. 

Morrill,  J.  S.,  454,  593, 

Morton,  O.  P.,  542. 

Napoleon,  318. 

National  Bank  act,  473-482 ;  debt,  act 
for  refunding,  551-553;  Loan  act, 
436,  437- 

Naturalization,  act  of  1708,  259—261 ; 
act  of  iQod,  630-635. 

Nature  and  object  of  the  war,  resolution 
nn,  439,  440. 

Navigation  act,  first,  55—59 ;  second, 
72-74;  third,  78,  79;  of  1606,  90-92. 

Neutrality,  proclamation  of,'  243,  244. 

Newcastle,  Del.,  80. 

Newcastle,  Duke  of,  109. 

New  England  confederation,  45-50. 

New  England  Restraining  act,  172-176. 

New  Haven,  Fundamental  Articles  of, 
39-43 ;  government  of,  50-53 ;  in 
cluded  in  Connecticut,  60. 

Newlands,  F.  G.,  600. 

New  Netherlands,  26,  60,  70. 

New  Orleans,  279. 

Newport,  R.  I.,  43. 

Newtowne  (Cambridge),  Mass.,  36. 

New  York  Assembly,  act  suspending, 
141,  142. 

Non-importation  in  Continental  Con 
gress,  1 66,  167. 

Non-intercourse  act,  284-288. 


654 


INDEX 


North,  Chief  Justice,  80. 

North,  Lord,   151,   155,    159,    172,   188, 

204. 
North  Carolina,  proclamation  appointing 

a  governor  for,   491-493 ;    admitted  to 

representation  in  Congress,  532—534. 
Northeast  boundary,  treaty  of  1842,  361— 

368. 
Northwest     boundary,     treaty     of    1846, 

372-374. 
Nullification,   South   Carolina  ordinance, 

329—333  !  Jackson's  proclamation,  333— 

340 ;    act  for  enforcing  the  tariff,  341- 

343- 

Oath   of  Office    (1862),    452-454;     oath 

of  1868,  534. 
Oglethorpe,  J.  E.,  95. 
Onis,  Luis  de,  311. 
Ordinance  for  Virginia,  20-22 ;    of  1787, 

209—216. 

Oregon  country,  372. 
Oregon  Territory  organized,  383. 
Otis,  James,  106. 
Overstreet,  Jesse,  609. 

Paine,  R.  T.,  162. 

Panama,  Republic  of,  623. 

Panama  Canal  treaty,  623—630. 

Panama  Canal  Zone,  623. 

Paper   read    to    the    Cabinet,    Jackson's, 

344,  349. 
Paris,  treaty  of  1763,  109—112;   of  1783, 

204—209 ;   of  i8Q&,  602—608. 
Patent  of  Providence  Plantations,  43—45. 
Patroons,  charter  of  privileges  to,  26—31. 
Paxton,  Charles,  105. 
Pendleton,  G.  H.,  576. 
Penn,  Richard,  188. 
Penn,  William,  80. 
Pennsylvania  charter,  80-84. 
Perkins,  James  B.,  616,  645. 
Pitt,   William,   Earl  of   Chatham,    109, 

143- 

Plumb,  P.  B.,  593. 

Political  disabilities,  act  removing,  564. 
Polk,  J.  K.,  368,  371- 
Popham,  Sir  John,  i . 
Port  Royal,  N.  S.,  93,  94. 
Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  branch  bank  at,  320. 
Portsmouth,  R.  I.,  43. 
Proclamation  concerning  America,  royal, 

113—116;      of    rebellion,     royal,     188- 

190;   of  neutrality,  243,  244;   to  South 


Carolina,  333-340;  declaring  block 
ade  of  Southern  ports,  434,  435 ;  of 
emancipation,  457—459 ;  of  amnesty, 
470-472  ;  regarding  reconstruction,  482— 
487 ;  appointing  governor  for  North 
Carolina,  491—493. 

Providence  Plantations,  patent,  43—45. 

Provisional  governments  of  Virginia, 
Texas,  and  Mississippi,  538,  539. 

Public  credit,  Hamilton's  first  report  on, 
233-243 ;  act  to  strengthen,  539,  540. 

Puritans  in  Maryland,  54. 

Quakers  in  Maryland,  54. 

Quartering  act,  131-136;    in  New  York, 

141. 

Quebec,  109. 
Queen  Anne's  war,  93. 

Railroad  and  telegraph  lines,  act  authoriz 
ing  seizure  of,  444,  445. 

Randolph,  Edmund,  243. 

Rebellion,  royal  proclamation  of,  188—190. 

Recognition  of  independence  of  Cuba, 
597,  598. 

Reconstruction:  Lincoln's  plan,  470- 
472 ;  proclamation  regarding,  482- 
487 ;  first  act,  500-504 ;  second  act, 
508-511;  third  act,  514-518;  fourth 
act,  529,  530;  of  Georgia,  542-544. 

Refunding  the  national  debt,  act  for,  551— 
553- 

Reid,  Whitelaw,  608. 

Removal  of  deposits,  344—353. 

Repeal  of  Silver  Purchase  act,  595,  596. 

Report  on  Lord  North's  conciliatory 
resolution,  184-188;  of  Hartford  Con 
vention,  293-301. 

Republic  of  Panama,  623. 

Resolutions  of  Stamp  Act  Congress,  136- 
*39  >  Jor  admission  of  Missouri,  317, 
318;  on  nature  and  object  of  the  Civil 
War,  439,  440. 

Restoration  of  Georgia,  act  for,  553,  554 ; 
of  Tennessee,  498,  499. 

Resumption  of  specie  payments,  566—568. 

Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations, 
charter,  66-72. 

Rios,  E.  M.,  608. 

Rockingham,  Lord,  139,  143,  147,  2°4- 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  614,  619,  623,  630. 

Root,  Elihu,  644. 

Royal  proclamation  concerning  America, 
113-116. 


INDEX 


655 


Rucker,  William  W.,  647. 

Ruggles,  Timothy,  137. 

Russell,  Jonathan,  293. 

Russia,   289,   318;    Alaska  treaty,   511- 

514- 
Rutledge,  John,  176,  188. 

Sandys,  Sir  Edwin,  9. 

San  Ildefonso,  treaty,  279. 

San  Juan,  P.  R.,  599. 

Say  and  Sele,  Lord,  36,  60. 

Saybrook,  Conn.,  36. 

Schenck,  R.  C.,  539,  551. 

Scott,  James  B.,  644. 

Scott,  Winfield,  463. 

Secession,  South  Carolina  ordinance,  423, 
424. 

Second  chapter  of  Virginia,  9-14;  of 
Carolina,  76-78 ;  of  Massachusetts, 
84-90;  Civil  Rights  act,  568,  569; 
Navigation  act,  72—74;  Reconstruction 
act,  508-511. 

Sedition  act,  265-267. 

Seven  Years'  War,  100. 

Seventeenth  amendment,  647,  648. 

Seward,  W.  H.,  457,  536. 

Shelburne,  Earl  of,  141,  147,  204. 

Shellabarger,  Samuel,  560. 

Sherman,  John,  473,  501,  560,  565,  566, 
59i- 

Sherman,  Roger,   190. 

Silver  dollar,  coinage  of  standard,  573— 
575- 

Silver  Purchase  act,  593-595 ;  repeal  of 
595,  596. 

Sixteenth  amendment,  647. 

Slavery,  abolition  of,  in  District  of  Co 
lumbia,  450,  451 ;  in  Territories,  452. 

Slave  trade,  abolition  of,  in  Disrict  of 
Columbia,  394. 

Soldiers'  families,  freedom  for,  490. 

Somers  Islands,  14. 

Somers,  Sir  George,  i. 

Sons  of  Liberty,  139. 

South  Carolina,  ordinance  of  nullifica 
tion,  329-333  J  Jackson's  proclama 
tion  to,  333—340  ;  ordinance  of  secession, 
423,  424 ;  admitted  to  representation  in 
Congress,  532-534- 

Southold,  Long  Island,  50. 

Spain,  Florida  treaty,  306-131;  declara 
tion  of  -war,  598,  599 ;  treaty  of  Paris, 
602-608. 

Spanish  Succession  war,  93. 


Spaulding,  E.  G.,  446. 

Specie  circular.  359,  360;  payments, 
resumption  of,  566—568. 

Stamford,  Conn.,  50. 

Stamp  act,  122-131. 

Stamp  Act  Congress,  resolutions,  136- 
i39. 

Standard  silver  dollar,  573-575. 

Stanton,  E.  M.,  518  seq. 

State  debts,  assumption  of.  See  Hamil 
ton. 

Stevens,  Thaddeus,  436,  464,  467,  501, 
529,  530,  532.  536. 

Stone,  William,  53. 

St.  Mary's,  Md.,  54. 

Sugar  act,  117—122. 

Sumner,  Charles,  467,  488,  494,  551, 
568;  proposed  amendment  to  Kansas- 
Nebraska  bill,  403. 

Sumter,  Fort,  433. 

Surplus  revenue  distribution,  358,  359. 

Tallmadge,  amendment  to  the  Missouri 
bill,  313- 

Taney,  R.  B.,  344;  instructions  to 
collector  at  Philadelphia,  349,  350; 
letter  to  Girard  Bank,  350,  351 ;  opinion 
in  Dred  Scott  case.  405-416. 

Tariff,  act  for  enforcing,  341-343; 
"tariff  of  abominations,"  329. 

Taylor,  John,  267. 

Taylor,  J.  W.,  amendment  to  Missouri 
bill,  313,  3H- 

Tea  duties,  150. 

Tennessee,  restoration  of,  498,  499. 

Tenure  of  Otfice  act,  504-507. 

Territories,  abolition  of  slavery  in,  452; 
elective  franchise  in,  500. 

Texas,  joint  resolution  for  annexation, 
368-370;  Texai  and  New  Mexico 
act,  388,  389;  provisional  govern 
ment,  538,  539;  submission  of  con 
stitution,  540,  541. 

Thacher,  Oxenbridge,  106. 

The  Association,  166—171. 

Third  charter  of  Virginia,  14-19 ;  Naviga 
tion  act,  78,  79;  Reconstruction  act, 
5i4-5i8. 

Thirteenth  amendment,  494. 

Thomas,  amendment  to  Missouri  bill,  314 

Tilden,  S.  J.,  570. 

Tillman,  Benjamin  R.,  635. 

Tobacco  trade,  78. 

Toleration  act,  Maryland,  53—55. 


656 


INDEX 


Topeka  constitution,  420. 

Townshend,  Charles;   117;    Revenue  act, 

143-146. 
Treaty    of    Utrecht,    93-95 ;     of    Paris, 

(1763),    109-112;    of  1783,    204-209; 

of  1704,  244-258;    of  1803,  279-282; 

of  1814,  289-293;    of  1819,  306-311; 

of  1842,  361-368;    of  1846,  372-374; 

of  1848,  377-382 ;    of  1853,  394-397  5 

of  1867,  511-514;    of  1898,  602-608; 

Isthmian  Canal,  614—616. 
Trist,  N.  P.,  377- 
Trumbull,  Lyman,  442,  494,  514. 
Turpie,  David,  597. 
Tyler,  John,  374. 

Urrutia,  W.  R.  de  Villa,  608. 
Utah  act,  387. 
Utrecht  treaty,  93-95. 

Van  Buren,  Martin,  368. 

Verplanck,  G.  C.,  341. 

Virginia  and  Kentucky  resolutions,  267- 
278. 

Virginia,  first  charter,  1-9 ;  second 
charter,  9— 14 ;  third  charter,  14—19 ; 
ordinance  for,  20-22  ;  resolutions  on 
Stamp  act,  139 ;  resolutions  of  1798, 
274—276;  provisional  government,  538, 
539;  submission  of  constitution,  540, 
541 ;  admission  to  representation  in 
Congress,  544-546. 

Volunteers,  call  for  75,000,  433,  434; 
act  authorizing  employment  of,  438. 


Wade,  B.  F.,  444,  499,  500. 

"Wade-Davis"  bill,  482-487. 

War,    declaration    of,    1812,    288,    289; 

declaration  of,  1898,  598,  599. 
Warwick,  Earl  of,  36,  43. 
Warwick,  R.  I.,  43. 
Washington,  George,  109,  176,  216,  243, 

245- 

Watertown,  Mass.,  36. 
Wayne,  J.  M.,  321,  322. 
Webster,  Daniel,  368. 
West  Florida,  306. 
Westminster  treaty,  75. 
Wethersfield,  Conn.,  36. 
Wey mouth,  George,  i. 
Wheeler,  W.  A.,  570. 
White,  A.  S.,  449. 
White,  E.  D.,  602. 
Wilkins,  William,  341. 
Williams,  G.  H.,  504. 
Williams,  Roger,  43. 
Wilmot  proviso,  383. 
Wilson,  Henry,  438,  450,  459,  490. 
Wilson,  J.  F.,  453. 
Wilson,  W.  L.,  595- 
Windsor,  Conn.,  36. 
Winthrop,  John,  36,  60. 
Woodbury,  Levi,  360. 
Writ  of  Assistance,  105-109. 
Wyandotte  constitution,  421. 

Yancey,  W.  L.,  383. 

Yeardley,  Sir  George,  20. 

York,  Duke  of,  60,  80;   grant  to,  74-76 


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2-month  loans  may  be  renewed  by  calling 

(510)642-6753 
1-year  loans  may  be  recharged  by  bringing  books 

to  NRLF 
Renewals    and    recharges    may    be    made    4    days 

prior  to  due  date 

DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


RECEIVED 


MAY  :  3  1996 


CIRCULATION  DEPT 


20,000(4/94) 


